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CHINA 

• Falling futures market put more pressure on domestic spot ground 
• Import market mixed, sentiment remains weak 

Polypropylene (PP)

Buying sentiment in domestic spot market remains pretty disappointed on the first trading day of the new week while futures trading has not shown any improvement. Traders are offering additional CNY50-100/ton ($8-16/ton) discount on spot cargoes with hope to smoothen sales process, “And we only managed to conclude deals at the lower end of the overall price range. In the meantime, we are unable to concede to large discounts in order to protect the profit margins,” a trader commented.

At the time this report is published, domestic homo-PP yarn and injection traded in Eastern China in the range CNY9000-9150/ton ($1214-1234/ton without VAT), EXW China, cash equivalent.

Polyethylene (PE)

The import PE market is rather mixed, however, one thing has not changed since the previous week is the reluctance to make fresh buy among customers. While mainstream Saudi LLDPE film is available in the distribution market at $1170/ton CFR China, LC AS term, direct offers from the maker unchanged at $1200/ton with the same term. 

“Our weekend visit to some of the commercial warehouses revived the concern over the near-term outlook for LLDPE and LDPE film as inventories are rather lengthy. And therefore, current offers at above the $1200/ton mark are not attracting any interest,” a buyer said.

If PE film prices continue inching lower in the coming week, agricultural film manufacturers might return earlier than usual to make replenishment to leverage the low raw material prices, sources said.