China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, lowered its ex-works butadiene offers in east China to Yuan 9,900/mt, or $1,252/mt on an import parity basis, effective Tuesday, down Yuan 400/mt, or about 3.9%, market sources said.
State-owned Sinopec last lowered prices on October 11 by Yuan 700/mt to Yuan 10,300/mt.
The cut occurs as the Communist Party Congress comes to an end Tuesday after starting October 18. During the current congress, which occurs once every five years, transportation of petrochemicals was limited and cargoes from northeast China into east China were reduced.
Market sentiment in China is mixed as Sinopec’s Qilu Petrochemical shut one of its two styrene-butadiene rubber production lines at Zibo, eastern China, on October 16.
The 100,000 mt/year line was shut while the 150,000 mt/year line is operating, one source said.
Several sources said the shutdown was due to an inability to meet government pollution standards.
They said the SBR line could be shut for three to six months, thereby freeing the plant’s butadiene requirements for the spot market.
Qilu also runs a 164,000 mt/year butadiene extraction unit at the same location, which is still operating, along with a 50,000 mt/year butadiene rubber plant.
While the shutdown has boosted the domestic SBR market, the domestic butadiene market was unaffected by it, preferring to take a wait-and-see stance.
- Platts.com
