Asia Daily PP and PE Overview 29 August 2018

SOUTHEAST ASIA 

• More Saudi maker announced September shipment offers to SEA 
• Acceptance level for import PP, PE dropped slightly

Polypropylene (PP)

As overseas sellers continue to struggle to maintain the upward momentum, suppliers for Vietnamese homo-PP decided to offer special deals to Indonesian buyers at $1250/ton CIF, LC AS – which is the same level as deep-seas Saudi cargoes. The deals represent $20/ton reduction from the initial price list.

“We opted for Vietnamese cargoes given various competitive advantages, including duties free, shorter lead time and lower than local prices,” a converter purchased 300 tons said.

In Vietnam, buyers are placing bids at as low as $1230/ton for Saudi homo-PP yarn, which the supplier has rejected due to ‘out of market range’. “Buying interest has dropped to a certain degree since prices firm up. Supply from the Middle East is still tight and as a result, we are only able to concede to a small discount,” an international trader offered Saudi homo-PP yarn at $1260/ton to Vietnam, said.  

Polyethylene (PE)

More Saudi Arabia producer lifted PE offers to Southeast Asia for September shipment despite the constant complaint about pressure from the heavy influx of USA cargoes. Latest price list from a producer indicated $10-20/ton hikes on both HDPE and LLDPE film month-on-month, reaching $1330-1340/ton and $1140-11150/ton respectively.

“We are looking at $1120-1130/ton for LLDPE and $1290-1300/ton for HDPE film. These cargoes will be arriving at the same time with those low costs USA material, making challenging to compete in the local ground. We are very concern,” a Vietnamese local trader commented.

In the meantime, most export-oriented flexible packaging converters are reporting healthy demand for end products amid the traditional peak season. “Just that we can’t really sell to the USA due to the on-going antidumping investigation on Vietnamese woven sack and PE packaging. Other markets are strong,” a Vietnamese PE bags maker added.