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CHINA

• Market gets calmer following the aggressive replenishment
• Delivery has become a challenge ahead of the long holiday

Polypropylene (PP)

Buyers have mostly done with preholiday replenishment and now focusing on delivery. Several traders claimed to have oversold homo-PP cargoes thanks to the limited supply and strong buying interest, signaling a less heavy outlook for the post-holiday term.

“Rushing for delivery now is a huge challenge. Many logistics companies are unable to accommodate new orders as drivers are away while roadblock is soon to take place. Many parcels might only arrive customer’s warehouses after the holiday,” a trader said. 

Polyethylene (PE)

PE market is apparently not too resilient. Looking back the past week, a number of traders are not very satisfied with the sales results citing that the purchasing activities took place too late and too quickly. Several small to medium size converters in the film and pipe sector are taking 5 days off for the holiday while still keep production running for the other days. This seems to be a good news for the market, yet, these companies were not used to shutting production during the previous National Day holidays. “Because demand for our end product is not very strong. More orders might be coming in after the holidays, and we would only procure additional material by then,” a cast film converter said.

In the import market, Thailand producer has achieved deals for PE cargoes at higher price levels, reaching $1345/ton for HDPE film and $1150/ton for LDPE film, CFR China, LC AS. Deals are small. Theoretically, demand from the flexible packaging sector would pick up after the national day holiday, in line with the preparation for the Single Day sales and year-end season. Sources are on the waiting and see mood now.

SOUTHEAST ASIA 

• Middle Eastern producers set final prices for October shipment 
• Import homo-PP to Indonesia emerged at higher levels

Polypropylene (PP)

Import homo-PP originated from Vietnam and the Middle Eastern shows up in Indonesia toward the end of the week with $10-20/ton higher at $1270-1280/ton and $1260-1270/ton respectively, all based on CIF Indonesia, LC AS term.

This development is regarded as a result of tightening supply condition and lack of inventories pressure after healthy sales results in the China market. In fact, it is informed that Saudi Aramco has encountered a major technical issue at one of the PP lines, leading to the lack of BOPP and PP yarn allocation for this month. 

Polyethylene (PE)

Saudi Arabia producers finalized import PE prices for October shipment to the region with $10-20/ton discount on an average. LLDPE film concluded at $1110-1140/ton while HDPE film at $1250-1270/ton, all based on CIF, LC AS. 

Apparently, buyers are not very eager to make large replenishment for the same concern that local supply might surge once a bulk of USA cargoes arrive the market in late November to the beginning of December. “We continue buying hand to mouth basis. USA HDPE film cargoes are available at $1240/ton with shipment from Kaohsiung. Demand for our end product is stable for now, yet we plan to wait for further reduction to take place,” a HDPE bag maker in Indonesia informed.