Demand from North Asia propels Asia's naphtha crack to a 4 week high

29-Dec-16

Naphtha crack in Asia naphtha crack rebounded on Tuesday to reach an almost four-week high of US$74.45/ton, supported by gasoline and steady demand from North Asian petrochemical makers, as per Reuters. Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp, Asia's top naphtha importer, was seeking the fuel for H1-February delivery to Mailiao through a tender closing on December 28.

Formosa had on December 15 bought the light fuel for H2-January delivery to Mailiao at a discount of about US$6.50/ton to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis. That was sharply lower when compared to the discount of US$1/ton it had paid on November 25 for up to 120,000 tons of naphtha scheduled for H1-January delivery.