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Most international suppliers have announced November delivery offers for homo-PP to Vietnam with increases since last week, and couple have already stepped back on their hike target, yet buying interest in Vietnam remain disappointed.

The fact that buyers have replenished sufficient material in the previous months in an effort to avoid higher import duties by beginning of 2017 is now keeping buyers away from the market. An international trader, who down adjusted Saudi’s homo-PP prices by $20/ton from initial offers to reach $1030/ton CIF Vietnam, LC AS term informed, “It is really hard to conclude deal this month as our customers are fully covered till early January. We managed to sell off the assigned quantity but with additional discount which dented our profit margins.”

A trader received offers for Middle Eastern homo-PP at $1070/ton, some $20/ton increased from last week informed, “We are holding comfortable stock and more of our cargoes shall arrive within this month, hence no plans for us to make additional purchases. At the moment, we only concentrate on selling.”

Many converters in the country are covered for the next two to three months with a source commented; “We have sufficient stock until Lunar New Year. The PP market is full of uncertainties with contradicting factors. We are in dilemma whether to make purchases for post Lunar New Year production at the current energy and propylene costs.”

It is expected that market resistance might grow stronger in the coming days as traders started to cut domestic offers by VND200,000-300,000/ton ($9-13/ton) due to rising local supply. Would import PP prices change direction following falling upstream costs and increased supply, it very much depends on the state of demand in near-by China market.

Import homo-PP to Vietnam currently stand at $1025-1070/ton CIF Vietnam, LC AS term.