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Import PE prices to Vietnam has been following the firming trend since end of July on the back of tightening supply, improved demand condition in near-by China market and strong upstream costs. Prices especially escalated rapidly last week as ethylene costs surged more than $100/ton, however, buyers are showing resistance, from which couple of major international sellers decided to step back on prices to conclude deals.

In fact, Iranian HDPE film and LDPE film were offered at $1140/ton and $1240/ton respectively earlier this week with the supplier refused to enter any price negotiation. Such stance is softer today and buyers reportedly received $20/ton discount for both grades. A local trader said, “We did not purchase any additional cargoes since domestic ground remains very weak. Besides, we are having comfortable inventories, hence we might just wait and see at the moment.”

In addition, Thailand PE cargoes are traded at special term with $10-15/ton lower than initial offers given earlier this week, reaching $1125/ton for both HDPE and LLDPE film and at $1225/ton for LDPE film, all based on CIF Vietnam, LC AS term. A distributor said, “These are the final prices. Some of our customers are still picking up these parcels, as it is more competitive than many other origins. We do not think market is going down, and in contrast, further hike is likely to take place in the coming week.”

Market is strangely quiet in spite of various factors that possibly pushes price up in the coming weeks. Buyers are very conservative about procuring fresh cargoes hoping to see clearer sign of demand in China before taking position.