Asian PVC prices find support from strong demand in India

Players in India report that PVC prices are continuing to move higher in accordance with healthy demand, providing support to sellers in other Asian markets to maintain a firm stance on their prices, as per ChemOrbis. Some players are already speculating that a major Taiwanese producer may attempt a fresh round of increases on their June prices, which should be announced next week. According to data from ChemOrbis Price Index, import prices on a CFR India basis have risen by an average of US$68/ton over the past five weeks, almost returning to levels last seen in the middle of April. The announcement of the country’s new schedule of anti-dumping duties on April 4 has brought buyers back to the market to replenish after they had been keeping to the sidelines for some time in anticipation of the new announcement. Origins that were exempted from duties or assessed comparatively lower anti-dumping duties have sold particularly well. A source at a Taiwanese producer, who reported concluding deals to India this week, commented, “Our materials are subject to anti-dumping duties of US$33-35/ton under the new tax schedule, but the customs authorities have not started collecting the new taxes yet, so now is a good time to sell. We are seeing good demand from India while demand from China and Southeast Asia is stagnant and we believe that import prices might move up by another US$20/ton in the coming week.” An agent of another Taiwanese producer stated, “Demand is strong in India and we are holding some stocks off the market in anticipation of being able to sell at higher prices in the coming weeks. We believe that our supplier will announce their June prices with US$20-30/ton increases to Asia as they will be able to divert any cargoes that buyers in China and Southeast Asia do not accept to India where they can sell with a better netback.” According to ChemOrbis, a distributor based in Mumbai reported that local prices remain firm at high levels since availability is limited as India’s Reliance has only recently restarted its 360,000 tpa PVC plant at Hazira while the company’s recently expanded 345,000 tpa plant in Dahej will begin test runs later this month. Trial runs at the facility are expected to last two to three weeks. “Demand for Taiwanese cargoes has gotten strong enough to result in shipping congestion at Taiwanese ports and we think that prices still have room to move higher as many sellers who have material are withholding their cargoes in anticipation of seeing higher prices in the days ahead. We have heard that there are some offers for Chinese acetylene-based PVC in the market, although these offers are not generating much interest due to the high anti-dumping duties on acetylene-based PVC,” the distributor reported.