China Morning Snapshot – 21 March 2019
China Morning Snapshot – 21 March 2019

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Futures contracts for both PP and LLDPE on Dalian Commodity Exchange started to move higher into the green zone, which boosts the spot sentiment this morning.
Details on the spot and futures prices are shown in the following table:
20 March 2019 |
Prices in CNY |
USD Equivalent |
Changes in CNY |
Changes in USD |
|
Dalian Commodity Exchange (Mid-day closing) |
|
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PP 1905 |
CNY 8593 |
USD 1109 |
+CNY 81 |
+USD 12 |
|
LLDPE 1905 |
CNY 8415 |
USD 1086 |
+CNY 40 |
+USD 6 |
|
Spot Domestic Prices (EXW China, Cash equivalent) |
|
|
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PPH (East China) |
CNY 8750-8850 |
USD 1129-1142 |
+CNY 100 |
+USD 15 |
|
LLDPE (North China) |
CNY 8550-8650 |
USD 1103-1116 |
Stable |
Stable |
|
**All USD equivalent prices are exclusive of 16% VAT |
|
|
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Exchange rate: USD 1 = CNY 6.68 |
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Total inventories at Sinopec and CNPC’s warehouses digested20,000 tons from the previous trading day to 950,000 tons as on 21 March 2019.
Trading activities in the local market appear much better than the previous session and many suppliers are wrapping up orders for the existing VAT rate. Several traders informed that starting 25 March 2019, all new orders are entitled to the new VAT rate of 13%.
“We are hopeful that demand would improve in the near term, partly due to the new VAT rate and also the beginning of the manufacturing season. Our main concern is on the uncertain outcome of the USA-China trade truce,” a trader said.