Negotiating parties failed to reach a major settlement for the paraxylene Asian Contract Price for January, despite at least two sellers cutting their ACP nominations last week, sources close to the negotiations said Monday.
ExxonMobil cut its nomination for January by $45/mt to $835/mt CFR, while Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan cut by $30/mt to $840/mt CFR.
There was also talk of an offer at $800/mt, but this could not be confirmed.
However, market sources said the highest bids from buyers were around $770/mt CFR.
For December, no major settlement was reached in discussions, making it the 10th non-settlement in 2014.
There are five PX ACP sellers in Asia — Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan and JX Nippon Oil and Energy, ExxonMobil, and South Korea’s S-Oil and SK Global Chemical.
SK Global Chemical joined the ACP for the first time by nominating its January price at $890/mt CFR.
There are six ACP buyers: BP, Taiwan’s Capco and Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) Corp., Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals and Mitsubishi Chemical, and China’s Yisheng Petrochemical.
– Platts.com
