US OLEFINS
US olefins market participants head into this week looking to see how a fire at ExxonMobil’s Baytown, Texas, complex and a fire at eight storage tanks at Intercontinental Terminals Company’s tank farm in nearby Deer Park over the weekend will impact the markets. On Saturday, a fire at ExxonMobil’s Baytown facility could be seen across much of the greater Houston area. The Baytown facility has a refinery with a capacity of 584,000 b/d and has an olefins plant, which includes an ethane cracker capacity of 1.5 million mt/year, according to ExxonMobil’s website. Meanwhile, the burning tanks at ITC’s Deer Park tank farm currently contain naphtha, xylene and toluene. The company has not said if any olefins were impacted as of yet.
US POLYMERS
Planned maintenance work at Phillips 66’s Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, could yield tightness in the market for US polypropylene, influencing fundamentals by inhibiting domestic production against ample inventory and receding imports. PP spot prices held steady last week in tandem with stable polymer-grade propylene, laying the groundwork for an increase in demand for PP over the second half of this month. One source said orders on the books for both March and April are already higher than sales for February. Producers might be poised to move large volumes with PP nearing a price floor.
LATIN POLYMERS
Along West Coast South America, there is an uptick in activity as sources said that some buyers have requested polyethylene offers with firm intentions to buy product. Some traders arrived in San Antonio, Texas, for an industry event, sources said. Traders expect prices to rebound in tandem with demand in Asia, sources said. Buyers continue to monitor key variables in the US, such as production and inventories to take restocking decisions, sources said. The same sentiment was felt for other Latin America markets such as Mercosur and Mexico, where some traders are attending for an industry event, sources said.
US VINYLS
US export polyvinyl chloride prices were expected to remain in a range of $780-$790/mt FAS Houston this week, holding last week’s $5/mt decline, as the market eyes sentiment and April pricing offers in Asia. Market sources expect Asian offers for April material to be up to $30/mt lower than March levels, reflecting bearish sentiment, which could influence April negotiations in the US. Sources said a logjam in shipping out PVC exports has pressured pricing, with volumes waiting more than a month for packaging and loading onto containers for export. Formosa Plastics has a PVC turnaround on tap for April at its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, complex, but sources said the backup in exports and inventories may continue pressuring prices despite that expected reduction in production. In addition, domestic PVC demand has not picked up as is typical this time of year ahead of the peak summer construction season, leaving more export volume availability amid soft global demand. The domestic market accepted a 2 cents/lb price increase in February, but market sources remained skeptical that another 2 cents/lb price increase would be accepted for March.
US STYRENICS
The conclusion of Americas Styrenics’ 45-day planned work at its St. James, Louisiana, facility did little to weigh on prices as stronger demand and tightening supply bolstered values. A weekend fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company’s Deer Park, Texas, facility persisted into Monday. Benzene storage at the facility was not affected Monday morning, but fungibility at the terminal is likely to be hampered by the fire. Prices were expected to continue rising over the course of the week amid anticipated lower imports and supply disruptions due to the fire in Deer Park.
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Source: S&P Global Platts
