Asian Ethylene-Tepid trading during the holiday lull■ Discussions could begin next week■ Derivative margins improve vs early-May





Spot ethylene discussions were rare during
the week ending June 3 because Chinese and Unv1 market participants were absent
for Dragon Boat Festival. Most
buyers said they had sufficient coverage for June, but were not in negotiations
for July. After the holidays, talks will
resume. There was still a large gap in
buy-sell. Some July offers were made at
$1,050-1,080/mt CFR Northeast Asia. Bids
were received at $950-990/mt CFR Northeast Asia. The average operating rate in Asia this week was 75%-85%, as
opposed to 80%-95% in May. This will
likely result in tight spot supply as cracker operators focus on June contract
volumes. As cargo availability was
limited, there were not many offers made in Southeast Asia. Non-integrated producers had negative margins for key...