Chinese buyers responded positively to firming futures market
Chinese buyers responded positively to firming futures market

After nearly two weeks of continuous reduction that casted tremendous pressure on the local spot ground, Dalian Commodity Exchange market makes a sound come back on the first trading session of the week. The most actively traded contract for May delivery settled at increases of CNY142/ton ($21/ton) for PP and CNY80/ton ($12/ton) for LLDPE.
It is reported that buying interest in local market pick up visibly compared to last week and buyers accepted to make replenishment despite some CNY100/ton ($15/ton) hike in offers for both PP and PE. A trader sold 200 tons of HDPE film in one single order said, “We are not aggressive in pushing cargoes out as we hope to achieve better margins in the coming days. It appears that futures market has reached the bottom and sentiment might continue to improve in the near term.”
Meanwhile, many mulch sheet manufacturers are operating at around 70-80% capacity, which indicates a possibility of better replenishment activities. A converter informed, “Prices have been softening recently and at the current levels, our profit margins come back to the positive zone again. We are considering to restock some quantity in the coming days.”
A domestic producer added, “We managed to conclude a good number of deals today as we hope futures market continue to recover which in turn would stimulate buyer confident and assist spot market to digest the current inventory. Spot offers might not be able to firm up immediately, yet we hold bullish expectation for the second half of the month.”