Price List: Zhongjing raises export PP price in post-Lunar New Year week

China’s Zhongjing Petrochemical raised its homo-PP yarn and BOPP film export pricing by $15/ton compared to the pre-holiday period, citing the lack of inventory pressure after depleting a good number of cargoes prior to the weeklong break.

The latest offers from the producer and changes from the previous offers are as follows:

The post-holiday demand status remains unclear on the week's first trading day, yet the producer is inclined to a rather bullish stance. A source close to the maker expressed confidence in the market citing the manageable inventory levels.

Read: China Morning Snapshot – 18 February 2024

Key domestic producers Sinopec and CNPC saw 415,000 tons built up in PP and PE stock throughout the holiday, at 990,000 tons as of 18 February 2024. This level was lower than the usual Lunar New Year inventory accumulation of above 1 million tons but is also a cause for concern given the soft global demand.

“Plus, the futures market is still weak. We prefer to wait for more offers before making any post-holiday replenishment decision,” a Vietnamese buyer commented.   

Background:

Fujian Zhongjing Petrochemical is a subsidiary of China Soft Packaging Group Holdings Limited – a leading BOPP packaging products manufacturer in China. The company ventured into the upstream sector by building its first PP plant in 2012 and has been actively planning to expand the capacity since then.

Existing plants include two PP lines with a nameplate capacity of 1 million tons/year and a 750,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit based in Fujian, China. 

In 2018, the company signed a contract to use LyondellBasell’s 5th Generation Spheripol technology to build a new PP line with an estimated annual output of 1.2 million tons/year. The new plant is scheduled to come online between late 2022 to early 2023.