Firm outlook in South East Asia’s PVC market for February

PVC prices in Southeast Asia are expected to move higher in February, with initial offers for both local and regional business having already been announced with increases when compared with sellers’ most recent January sale prices, as per Chemorbis. Producers pointed to higher import PVC prices in China and India as well as persistently strong upstream costs as support for their price increases. In the region’s import markets, a major Thai producer announced initial February offers this week at a rollover from January done deal levels. The producer reported to be seeing better demand from the Chinese market than from Southeast Asia recently, although they expect buyers to become more active in the import market over the coming weeks. A trader offering Taiwanese PVC reported to have lifted offers to Southeast Asia by US$20-30/ton this week in line with rising import offer levels in markets in China and India. Traders offering towards the lower end of the import range are receiving a good number of price inquiries these days, though they continue to have difficulties concluding deals for large tonnages. In the region’s local markets, a Vietnamese producer announced initial February offer levels this week with increases of US$25-30/ton from their most recent January done deal levels. The producer is to run their plant at reduced rates of around 60-70% until after the Chinese New Year holidays. A producer in the Philippines also announced a price increase of PHP1000/ton (US$23/ton) on their offers to the local market this week, reporting that they are seeing normal demand from the local market at the moment. In Indonesia, a domestic producer reported plans to announce increases of US$20-30/ton on offers to the local market for February in line with firming regional trends. The producer has already sold out most January allocation at prices close to their initial offer levels for the month. Sellers in Southeast Asia’s PVC market are finding support for their price hike intentions from developments in the Chinese and Indian markets where import prices have recently moved up. Initial February offers from mainstream Asian producers have been announced to China with increases of US$40-70/ton when compared with the January done deal levels while February offers for American cargoes have been announced with increases of US$50/ton when compared with January. In India, a trader reported to have purchased some Taiwanese cargoes towards the end of this week at prices US$30/ton higher than done deal levels from earlier in the week. The trader said that buying activity has been picking up over the past few days based on rumors that domestic producers are preparing to announce increases of INR1000-2000/ton (US$22-44/ton) on their offer levels to the local market.