Benzene, paraxylene rise in Asia possibly due to new demand

Benzene prices in Asia increased at the start of the week on surging spot activity amid higher feedstock costs and anticipated tightening of supply in March. Supplies are expected to be impacted by planned turnarounds. Asian benzene was assessed at US$1205/mt FOB Korea , rising by five dollars since end of last week. Feedstock naphtha rose by US$5.75/mt Monday from last Friday to US$1072.75/mt CFR Japan, as per Platts. Regional benzene production will be curtailed in March due to several turnarounds in Northeast and Southeast Asia. In South Korea, Honam Petrochemical will shut its aromatics plant at Yeosu for 45 days of annual maintenance from March 1 to April 15. The plant has capacity to produce 180,000 tpa of benzene, 80,000 tpa of toluene and 50,000 tpa of solvent-MX. Yeochun Naphtha Cracking Center will shut its No. 2 aromatics plant in Yeosu from March 20 to April 20 for annual maintenance. That plant capacity comprises 130,000 tpa benzene, 70,000 tpa of toluene and 50,000 tpa of solvent-grade mixed xylenes. In Thailand, PTT Global Chemical will shut its Aromatics Complex 2 from Thursday for 40-45 days of annual maintenance, with nameplate capacity of 655,000 tpa of paraxylene, 355,000 tpa of benzene and 60,000 tpa of toluene. Another producer, Thai Paraxylene, plans to shut its benzene-toluene unit at Sri Racha in March for about two weeks. That complex can produce 177,000 tpa of benzene and 144,000 tpa of toluene. US benzene price remained the highest globally on Friday at US$1270/mt FOB USG. The European price was assessed at US$1250/mt CIF ARA. Asian paraxylene rose by none dollars from last Friday to US$1673.50/mt CFR Taiwan/China, possibly on emerging demand from new purified terephthalic acid plants in China. Asian PX market was also buoyed by strong upstream Western crude oil futures. But demand from existing PTA plants remained scarce due to high inventory levels. Amid this, some market sources questioned the recent price increase in Asian PX as downstream PTA is not showing signs of a strong rebound. The CFR China PTA price was assessed at US$1196/mt Monday, rising by ten dollars from Friday. At current PTA and PX prices, Asian PTA producers are incurring a negative production margin of US$72/mt. "If the situation continues, PTA plants will have to shut or reduce operations," an industry source said. The US PX price climbed Friday to US$1600/mt FOB USG. The European price was assessed Friday at US$1556/mt FOB ARA. Asian styrene monomer rose by five dollars from last Friday to close at US$1461/mt FOB Korea, for H1 April in tandem with upstream benzene. Even with the gains, the styrene price in Asia remained the lowest globally. The US price was assessed Friday at US$1483/mt FOB USG. The European styrene price was assessed at US$1503/mt FOB Rdam.