China Morning Snapshot – 09 March 2021

Although Dalian Commodity Exchange opened the trading day on a weak note, major contracts for May delivery regained some of the loses by the end of the morning session.

Details on the spot and futures prices are shown in the following table:

Total inventories at Sinopec and CNPC’s warehouses reduced 60,000 tons day on day to 915,000 tons as of 09 March 2021.

Local manufacturers are still making replenishment, however, in much smaller quantity compared to the previous trading day. Sources said that BOPP converters continue to have healthy profit margins, but PP woven bags and PE packaging converters are not as fortunate. 

“But with low stock on hand, customers would still have to make replenishment, even at higher prices,” a trader added.

Meanwhile, traders are becoming less confident in the near-term outlook now that inventories are piling up at traders’ warehouses, resulting in higher storage fees.