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(ICIS) -- China will receive around 30,000
tonnes of styrene monomer (SM) from Iran in December, adding to
the strong flows of deep-sea cargoes that continue to augment the Asian
country’s inventory and upset SM prices, industry sources said on Wednesday.
Some traders had expressed concerns that inventory levels in east China
market will blow up to hit 100,000 tonnes by the end of the year.
Actual inventory was pegged at around 75,000-80,000 tonnes this week,
much higher than the usual level of 60,000-70,000 tonne in off-season, market
sources said.
The SM price in east China trended lower in the past two weeks, from yuan
(CNY) 10,200/tonne ($1,527/tonnes) to CNY 9,650/tonne ex-tank Zhangjiagang, a
CNY550/tonne increase from 21st October.
Buying activities were limited, according to traders, as most of them
were waiting on the sidelines given the surplus supply that was weighing on
prices.
Iran’s SM shipment was precipitated by the restart of Pars Petrochemical
Co’s 600,000 tonne/year plant in Assaluyeh at the end of October. The plant was
shut on 20 August due to lack of feedstock benzene as a result of sanctions on
Iran due to its nuclear arms programme.
Meanwhile, some 100,000 tonnes of material were heading towards northeast
Asia, including China, from the US between October 2010 to January 2011, market
sources said. The strong supply of imported SM, however, was not being matched
by demand, given seasonal weakness in production of major downstream expandable
polystyrene (EPS) in China, they said.
mrcplast.com
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