China's demand for imported benzene has started to rise, as FOB Korea benzene prices trend lower on falling crude levels while domestic China benzene supplies tighten, as per Platts. "This situation lasted from last week," said a source at an end user in China, who noted that domestic inventory levels were low. "Chinese end-users keep buying. They bought 40,000 mt last week," said a source at a producer in South Korea.
China's import demand for benzene has been flagging since April last year.
Since then, China imported less than 50,000 mt of benzene each month, compared to 59,000-83,000 mt a month over January to March. In 2013, China imported an average of 73,876 mt of benzene monthly.
On Monday, the domestic price in China was heard at around Yuan 4,800/mt (US$643.17/mt) on an import parity basis, US$63.17/mt above the FOB Korea assessment on Monday, at US$580/mt. This difference more than covers the cost of freight from South Korea to East China, which was assessed at US$25-28/mt. A trader said Chinese buyers had been surfacing in the FOB Korea market. "Chinese domestic prices are higher, so he has to buy from the spot market," he said, referring to a company that has been bidding in the FOB Korea market recently. But trading may be limited by credit issues. The source at the producer in South Korea said he also could not trade with Chinese traders.
14-Jan-15 
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