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As intra-day crude futures on New York Mercantile Exchange fell below the $45/barrel threshold for the first time since mid November 2016, trading activities cross Southeast Asia region stalled as buyers take extra cautious stance over the near term outlook.

International traders reported seeing a sudden drop in buying interest despite many buyers were more active in placing bids in the previous sessions. An international sellers offered Saudi’s PE at $1140/ton CIF Vietnam for both HDPE and LLDPE film said, “Some customers were contacting us yesterday for cargoes but changed their intention today. Market is getting slower in spite of stronger ethylene costs, hence we might hold back our cargoes until next week.”

Another trader offering material to Indonesia is also facing similar situation with the source added, “Buyers confidence just dropped visibly today. We think would there be pre-ChinaPlas replenishment; it should take place in the coming week. Otherwise, May outlook might see little of the bright side.”

Many regional buyers contacted by CommoPlast have brought up similar concern over the near term market outlook amid the current upstream market development. “We have suspended all purchasing activities today to wait for clearer market direction. Both PP and PE prices might witness additional discount in the near term, just that the reduction range might not be too large,” a regional buyer said.

Even Vietnam domestic market is slowing down and though it is still not a major trend, few traders have initiated price cuts, which resulted in slight softer local prices on the final trading day of the week.