China's Lihuayi starts offering new plant Strong
downstream prices



Asian
spot styrene monomer prices were down $25/mt today at $1,223/mt-$1,240/mt CFR
China. The China domestic price was down Yuan 250/mt Yuan 9,005/mt exp-tank.
This equates to $1,227.4/mt-$1,227.12/mt import-parity. The SM market is experiencing bearish sentiment due to lower
upstream oil prices. Upstream, April ICE
Brent futures dropped 88c/b to $90.97/b at the 830 GMT Asian closing. Market sources say that China's Lihue began offering SM
cargoes on the domestic market, originating from its 720,000 mt/year new plant.
This added pressure to the supply side. Sources
said that the plant was at 60%. Imported
cargoes saw a decline in demand, with prices at $1,190/mt-$1,200/mt CFR China,
for March arrivals. In the downstream
markets, despite operation rates not recovering fully, offers for polystyrene,
expanded polystyrene, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene were...