China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, raised its ex-works butadiene offers in eastern China to Yuan 14,500/mt, effective Tuesday, or $1,763/mt on an import parity basis, up Yuan 500/mt or 3.6%, market sources said.
The latest hike comes nearly a week after the state-owned company increased their offers from Yuan 13,500/mt to Yuan 14,000/mt on December 7.
Sinopec’s higher offers are a result of supply tightness for December and January on strong demand from downstream derivatives such as butadiene and styrene-butadiene-rubber and acrylonitrile-butadiene styrene.
Demand for synthetic rubber was a result of bullish natural rubber prices.
On Tuesday, rubber futures traded on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange hit their highest level since February 20, 2014, with the May contract closing at Yen 256/kg, up Yen 10.60/kg day on day.
