Asian ethylene: Stable as
fundamentals unchanged■ Fixed-price cargo discussions
limited■ Buy-sell gap wideAsian ethylene market fundamentals were unchanged Nov. 16,sources
said.The buying appetite for fixed-priced December cargoes was limited,with
discussions mostly on a floating basis.Buying and selling indications were unchanged,
with severalparticipants saying that a large gap in selling and buying ideas
led todifficult discussions."I can understand that producers want above
$900/mt for ethyleneas naphtha is so expensive, but we are also in a difficult
position asdownstream prices are very weak," a buyer in China said.
"The onlyother option we have is to try to buy some cargoes on a floating
basisto help mitigate some risks."the benchmark C+F Japan naphtha marker
in theupstream market up $1/mt at $716.50/mt Nov. 16.The ethylene-naphtha
spread was calculated at $163.50/mt, belowthe typical $300-$350/mt level...