The tug of war in Asian PVC market ahead of December price announcement

Asian PVC players are reshaping their expectation for December shipment offers following the steep reduction in the energy complex in the recent week. The market was initially expecting stable to slightly firmer offers for December following the healthy and smooth sales results for November shipment to India market.

“The fall in the energy market has crashed all possibilities for a rebound. New offers would be announced by earlier next week and we are on the wait and see now,” an Indian buyer commented.

Indian buyers are turning cautious and sources have been expressing the unwillingness in making large purchases would prices go up. 

Meanwhile, Southeast Asian buyers expected new prices would hover in the range $800-820/ton CIF, LC AS term. “Local demand is rather steady following the end of the monsoon season. We are monitoring to catch the bottom prices, however, the fluctuation in the upstream make a whole lot of uncertainties,” a Vietnamese trader said.

This week, ethylene costs start to stabilize while tightening EDC supply continue to keep the market firm. While buyers are hoping to see stable to softer price levels for December shipment, sellers are having some support from the costs to hold firm stance. 

In fact, a distributor raises the possibility of a price hike between $20-30/ton from last month for December shipment based on the support from upstream costs. “We will have to see how Indian buyer responds to the offers then only can make adjustment accordingly,” a source from the distributor added.