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The Dalian Commodity Exchange settled the first half of the morning session on diverged trend. While May delivery contract for PP remained soft with CNY3/ton ($0.5/ton) reduction from the previous trading day, reaching CNY8793/ton ($1187/ton without VAT), LLDPE contract jumped CNY105/ton ($17/ton) to CNY9375/ton ($1266/ton without VAT).

Spot demand is thin and in Eastern China, traders continue cutting homo-PP prices by CNY50-100/ton ($8-16/ton), bringing latest offers to CNY‎‎‎8600-8700/ton ($‎‎1161-1175/ton without VAT), EXW China, cash equivalent.

On the other hand, LLDPE film in Northern China is traded at CNY50/ton ($8/ton) firmer in the range of CNY9100-9350/ton ($‎‎1229-1262/ton without VAT), with the same term, thanks to stronger futures trading.

Total PP and PE inventories at major domestic producers’ warehouses rose 55,000 tons to approximate 995,000 tons as of 19 March 2018. Demand for LLDPE film seems to be better amid traditional high demand season from the agricultural film sector, while BOPP manufacturers are still struggling to restore the ‘business as usual’ sentiment.

“Most cargoes takers are traders and with persistent bloated inventories levels, we are not that optimistic about the immediate term outlook,” a distributor commented.