(ICIS) -- Spot prices of lauric acids in Asia may continue to increase after rising sharply over the past two weeks, backed by high values of feedstocks crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), industry sources said on Monday. Spot prices were assessed at $1,300-1,400/tonne (┬975-1,050/tonne) FOB (free on board) SE (southeast) Asia in the week ending 23 November, up by $200/tonne or 16-18% from 9 November, according to ICIS.
⌠We are offering lauric at $1,500/tonne FOB SE Asia due to the current high CPKO price, said a major Indonesian producer. CPKO prices stood at $1,295/tonne FOB Malaysia on 25 November, according to the website of GateTrade, a trading platform for palm oil, coconut oil and biodiesel.
CPO prices are also on the rise on expectations of lower harvest due to the monsoon season in southeast Asia. On 25 November, CPO prices stood at M$3,070/tonne ($959/tonne), according to data from Bursa Malaysia.
Lauric acids are mainly used for the production of soaps and cosmetics. In southeast Asia, lauric acids are primarily derived from palm kernel oil and coconut oil.
Meanwhile, mid-cut C12-14 alcohols, which also use CPKO as the main feedstock, saw almost an 18% increase in prices over the past two weeks to $1,980-2,050/tonne on 23 November, ICIS data showed.
Some customers in the fatty alcohols market have been snapping up futures cargoes on expectations that prices will continue to rise.
Perspectives of development of the polymers 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 is 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.
MRC