(Plastemart) -- South Korea's KPIC and Honam Petrochemical are on the verge of finalising 2012 naphtha deals at higher prices, as sellers are unwilling to release cargoes at low prices to combat previous sharp losses, as per Reuters. KPIC will likely lock in around 400,000 tons of naphtha for January-December 2012 arrival at premiums of about US$2.50/ton to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis. This will be higher vs minus US$1 to premiums of US$1/ton for 250,000 tons for January-December 2011 arrival.
Honam has pegged its bids at US$1/ton discount for cargoes supplied to Yeosu port, and minus 50 cents for supplies delivered to Daesan port. Some sellers are expected to accept Honam's bids and the final volumes the petrochemical maker buys will depend on how many sellers are willing to accept its bids.
Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit partcipant.