A strong pull for mixed xylenes from gasoline blenders has adversely affected European paraxylene production economics, a producer said Tuesday.
The European spot price of MX was assessed by Platts at $609.50/mt FOB ARA on Monday, up $3/mt on the day and its highest point since October 7. Furthermore, the MX premium to the May Eurobob gasoline swap rose $5/mt to $120/mt.
“When people are putting MX into gasoline, PX production gets much less attractive,” a PX producer said, adding that he had made no purchases in the spot market for a long while, as MX spot prices have been too high for PX producers for any increased PX extraction to be viable.
A Europe-based chemicals trader noted on Tuesday that gasoline blenders dominated spot demand for MX, estimating that blenders were behind more than 80% of all MX spot purchases in Europe.
The European spot price of PX was assessed at $731/mt FOB ARA on Monday, up $8/mt from Friday, moving in tandem with Asian prices. The CFR China market for PX two months out was assessed at $817/mt Monday, putting the spread between Europe and China at $86/mt, making the traditional PX arbitrage from Europe to Asia hardly workable.
“PX has been really strong in Europe compared to Asia,” the Europe-based PX producer said.
The spread between PX and feedstock MX was assessed at $121.50/mt on Monday, but a spread of roughly $150/mt is needed between the two products for PX production to break even.
