- The week saw slightly higher demand for Asian ABS products.- Due to an increase in prices, production rates have been
steadily rising.



Demand for acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene
was heard to be slightly stronger over the week around Asia, with deals heard
around the region. There
was uncertainty about fourth-quarter demand, however, due to prudent end-user
purchasing activities. A producer stated
that ABS prices were higher because of slightly stronger buyer demand. Another producer stated that speculators were purchasing ABS
in anticipation of higher ABS future prices due to recent price increases in
upstream styrene monomer. As operating
rates in China have increased slightly to 77%, prices in Asia are expected to
remain stable. One market participant said
that the slight increase in production rates could be attributed to the
increased prices. The fundamentals in
Northeast Asia remained the...