North American PE: A weaker Asian does not affect North American exports
The spot trading volume of the PE spot market this week is limited, which is consistent with the situation at the beginning of each month, but the price in March still keeps rising. It has now risen by more than 3 cents. The trend of continuous rise is not only in the spot market, but also in the export market. The situation. This is due to the continuing intense supply and strong demand.
The average export price in March has risen by 3-4 cents, but it depends on the scarcity of suppliers and specific brands. However, the highest price appears on suppliers who have been delayed in delivery due to production problems in the past two months. Quotes.
In general, the market is still optimistic. Although Asia is weakening this week, it is still difficult to say whether this trend will last for the entire month and will eventually put pressure on North American export prices.
North American PP: February sales record recorded the worst record in recent years
Most of the time, the market was still relatively quiet. There was a lot of talk about price increases since April 1. Houston's FOB prices remained at 60 cents/lb. Basel, Braskem and Total announced price increases of 5 cents respectively. , 3 cents and 4 cents, this range does not include any possible changes in April monomer.
The US Chemicals Commission data showed February sales totaled 1.74 billion pounds, which is the worst month since February 2014. However, the utilization rate in February was only 77%, which led to a drop in inventory to 10,200 pounds. The start of March is expected to return to More than 80%. Factory sales in February fell 4.1% from the same period last year, while exports are expected to fall by 41%.
PE in Western Europe: Weakening of monomer impacts downstream performance
Eurozone GDP in the fourth quarter of 2017 rose by 0.6% from the previous quarter. The main driver was household spending and fixed capital investment, while the retail chain decreased in January 2018.
Oil prices continued to fluctuate weakly, the data showed that crude oil inventories increased and the United States output hit a record high.
The European PE market has no direction. Although ethylene prices have fallen, sellers still hope that prices will be higher than in February. Spot prices have been weakening since this month. With the monomer drop in February, buyers are not optimistic and orders have decreased. , Imports are also expected to decrease.
Western Europe PP: Supply uncertainty still exists
Since the single-month March contract price transaction fell by 23 euros, it is expected that the pace of the PP seller’s announcement of a price increase will slow. The PP contract price in March is still being discussed, but it is estimated that it is unlikely that the manufacturers will earn gross profit this month.
Although buyer demand is said to be good, supply uncertainty still exists. Total PC output at Total in Gonfreville is still problematic, which is estimated to continue until the cracker in the region recovers. Ducor’s installation in the Netherlands is still affected by force majeure, Although the device is ready to operate, it is estimated that this situation will continue until there is sufficient stock of raw materials.
Asian PE: High inventory pressures the market
In the Chinese import market, the seller's offer generally reflects the price reduction, but it can be seen that the buyer still does not fully accept this price level and did not purchase. Due to the large import volume, the space for PE decline is expected to be greater. The increase in supply compels the buyer to buy. As the family examines the current market conditions, prices are expected to remain under pressure.
In China's domestic market, most buyers stayed on the sidelines, so downstream demand has not recovered from long vacations. Therefore, petrochemical inventories remained at high levels last week, while trader stocks are also rising. Faced with sales pressures, traders offer Than the petrochemical plant also cut 100-150 yuan in an attempt to reduce inventory.
Petrochemical offer was flat this week.
Asian PP: Manufacturers Wait for Downstream Supplementary Stock Quotes
As the Spring Festival petrochemical plant continued to operate and downstream plant shutdowns resulted in petrochemical exhaustion. Downstream processors were on-demand purchases throughout February and March, and inventory pressure led to market expectations of price corrections that made the downstream unwilling to build inventory.
However, strong propylene prices support relatively stable import prices. Looking ahead, PP demand is still healthy in the long run, and it also supports the willingness to increase prices to a certain extent.
With a large supply, China's domestic market is again a week of weakness. And the continuous decline of the Dalian plate has also put pressure on the market.
Manufacturers are looking forward to more supplements, but due to the low interest of processors and end-users, middlemen are still cautious.
Due to the weak market sentiment, Petrochemical's offer was lowered this week.