Asia Daily PP and PE Overview 21 February 2018

There are no trading activities in China as players are away for Luna New Year. Reports on this market would become available starting 22 February 2018.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

• Slow sentiment amid holidays
• Traders cuts offers in Indonesia

Polypropylene (PP)

There are very limited trading activities across the region as many market participants are still away for the long Lunar New Year holiday. Couple of new offers for Philippines homo-PP observed in Indonesia and Vietnam at stable to softer levels compared to the pre-holiday period, however purchasing interest seems to be weak.

A trader cuts offers for Philippines homo-PP by $10-20/ton from beginning of the week to $1300/ton CIF Indonesia, LC AS term said, “It is very difficult to attract buying interest at the moment. Even local sellers are slashing prices, hence we might wait for a while before making further decision.”

Polyethylene (PE)

Overseas sellers remain relatively inactive given the absence of regional buyers. Many are expecting some discounts to emerge considering the recent drop in ethylene costs. At the meantime, Southeast Asian players are watching out for any signal regarding the state of demand condition in China before making decision.

In contrast, local traders in Indonesia slashed offers for both HDPE and LLDPE film by IDR500,000/ton ($37/ton) to IDR22,000,000/ton ($1618/ton) and IDR19,000,000/ton ($1397/ton) respectively, all based on FD Indonesia, without VAT, cash term.

Sources are strongly concerned over government’s announcement on the implementation of excise tax on plastic bags, which might affect the industry negatively. “We are not expecting the condition to improve in the near term as end product demand is very weak. Local suppliers are very aggressive when it comes to prices, hence import cargoes might face stiff competition,” a buyer commented.