Asian naphtha cracks recover from 18 month low

27-Jul-16

Asia's naphtha crack recovered from an 18-month low to a three session high of US36.2/ton at the start of this week but the market remained saturated with supplies, as per traders in Reuters. Although naphtha crackers are mostly running at high rates with occasional demand lost from planned maintenance, naphtha sellers are facing intense competition from alternative feedstock liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) this year. Buyers usually replace between 5 -15% of naphtha with LPG when prices of the latter are at least US$50/ton cheaper than naphtha or when they are about 92-93% of the price of naphtha.

India's Reliance is rumoured to have sold a third cargo for August loading, bringing its total exports next month to about 165,000 tons, highest volumes since its March shipments, Reuters data showed. Overall, India's monthly exports for the first half of this year at 603,000 tons were higher than the same period last year at 535,000 tons.