China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, raised its ex-works styrene monomer offer price in East China to Yuan 10,600/mt, or $1,405/mt on an import parity basis, late Wednesday, up Yuan 300/mt or about 3%, market sources said Thursday.
The state-run company last revised its price on April 26, lowering by Yuan 250/mt to Yuan 10,300/mt.
The price increase came on tight domestic supply for May as several domestic plants undergo maintenance.
Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical in Zhenhai, Zhejiang province had commenced a 40-day planned turnaround at its 620,000 mt/year SM plant starting April 21, alongside a planned maintenance at its upstream naphtha-fed steam cracker over the same period, S&P Global Platts reported previously.
The cracker is able to produce 1 million mt/year of ethylene, 550,000 mt/year of propylene and 180,000 mt/year of butadiene.
Meanwhile, East China’s Abel Chemical is expected to shut its 250,000 mt/year SM unit at Taixing, Jiangsu province for an unplanned maintenance starting May 10 for approximately one month.
Buying interest in the domestic East China market was strong Wednesday following Sinopec’s latest adjustment, with prompt supply expected to tighten given multiple styrene plants are undergoing turnarounds in May.
This was further supported by inventory levels that traders held at the East China main ports, estimated at 38,300 mt Wednesday, plunging 45.9% over the week, amid delayed arrivals due to persistent bad weather over the past week, sources said Wednesday.
East China trader inventories were last lower on December 8 last year, more than four months ago.
In reaction to limited prompt supply, Asian styrene prices rose $10/mt day on day to be assessed at $1,381/mt CFR China Wednesday. East China’s prompt prices also rose in tandem by Yuan 230/mt day on day to Yuan 10,790/mt Wednesday.
–Frank Zeng, [email protected]
–Edited by Irene Tang, [email protected]
