Chinese suppliers lifted export PET prices

It is reported that several major Chinese suppliers have announced new export offers for PET with $25-30/ton increased from last week, claiming high production costs to be the main driver behind such move. Despite several deals have been reported at the new price levels, buyers are generally very reluctant to accept the hike, from which most are still sourcing hand to mouth basis.

A producer, whose offer stand at $955-960/ton FOB China, LC AS term, said, “PTA market is very firm recently thanks to healthy futures trading. We could not achieve full hike target in Asia since demand within the region is rather slow, yet managed to conclude some deals to other markets. It is the traditional high demand season now and we hope market could sustain the firming trend in the near term.”

A Southeast Asian buyer purchased some quantity said, “We negotiated for some discount before making replenishment. Demand for our end product has not revived after the Ramadan celebration; hence we only source material hand to mouth basis.”

It is expected that the firming trend might sustain throughout July due to tight availability of PTA amid heavy maintenance shutdown, which would keep the upstream market steady. In contrast, demand in Asia might diminish ahead of the monsoon season and provide little support for any significant hike.