Asia
Styrene : Prices fall due to lower-than-expected demand-
Although sentiment is slightly bearish for Styrene, optimism remains-
China's downstream demand is weaker than expected: SourcesAsian
styrene monomer dropped $17/mt to $1,116/mt CFR China Feb. 3 and $1,116/mt FBO
Korea Feb. 3. Domestic China prompt marker dropped Yuan 125/mt from Yuan
8,425/mt ex-tank. This equates to approximately $1,084.79/mt if you consider
importparity. Unmet demand recovery expectations were driving prices in
the domestic China market. A Chinese trader stated that this should be a
matter of market confidence. "Downstream demand isn’t as optimistic as we
expected. Let’s wait and see next week." The outlook for downstream
producers outside of China is becoming less optimistic. A downstream
polystyrene (PS) and acrylonitrilebutadiene- styrene (ABS) producer mentioned,
"We forecast ABS/PS/EPS [loss] will be huge until first quarter. Hence,
there is...