India’s PVC market moves lower on cheaper imports, falling VCM

29-Jun-11

Players in India report a significant decline in PVC prices over the past week in both import and domestic markets owing to cheaper import offers along with declining VCM prices as per ChemOrbis. Demand is said to be limited in India as most buyers anticipate further price declines in the days ahead. In the import market, over the past week, offers for Asian PVC k67-68 fell by US$60-80/ton, while offers for non-Asian origins also posted declines of US$30-90/ton. A distributor reported offers from a South Korean producer last week with decreases of US$80-90/ton from the most recent offer levels; while a converter reported receiving a July offer from a Taiwanese producer almost 100 dollars below the producer’s most recent June offer levels. Despite the significant declines of the past two weeks, most buyers are still hesitant to make fresh purchases, as they expect American PVC producers to re-enter the market with even lower prices in the coming weeks. Inside India, offers for locally-held PVC dropped by INR4000-4100/ton (US$88-90/ton) over the past week after domestic producers implemented cumulative price cuts of INR5000/ton (US$110/ton) during the week. Buyers commented that they have elected to remain on the sidelines despite these significant price reductions as they believe that import prices still have some room to move lower and that import prices will become more competitive than local prices after these price reductions take place. Softening feedstock costs have also played a role in pushing down PVC prices in India. Some June VCM deals were reported in the Asian market last week almost US$80/ton below producers’ initial offer levels, with buyers in the Northeast Asia currently bidding for further reductions of US$40-50/ton for July. CFR Northeast Asia spot ethylene prices were steady week over week although spot prices have nevertheless fallen by around US$145/ton since the first of June. Spot naphtha prices on a CFR Japan basis have also fallen by around US$85-90/ton since the start of the month while crude oil prices on the NYMEX have dropped nearly US$10/barrel since the start of June to reach their lowest levels since February.