MOSCOW (MRC) -- East China's monoethylene glycol inventories at main ports tumbled almost 100,000 mt week on week to around 793,000 mt Thursday, surprising the market by returning to the normal range not seen since January, before a supply glut pushed stocks to record highs above 1.4 million mt in April, reported S&P Global.
The sudden plunge has caught many participants by surprise as stocks had widely been expected to remain above 1 million mt for the rest of the year, and appears to have been triggered by MEG production cuts in Asia in response to poor profit margins -- which kicked in just before demand in the region perked up.
MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia;s estimated PET consumption decreased in July 2019 by 4% year on year. 428,790 tonnes of PET were processed in Russia over January-July 2019. Russia's PET production was 44,430 tonnes in July.
MRC