Globally falling costs drive ABS prices down in Turkey

Turkey’s ABS market posted steady drops since the beginning of April triggered by persistently falling ACN and butadiene costs across the globe, as well as, limited buying interest, as per the pricing service of ChemOrbis. As the bearish trend in upstream markets gained pace last week, local ABS sellers implemented larger price cuts to revive limited buying interest moving into the month of May. In Asia, spot ACN costs slumped $110/ton on CFR Far East Asia basis last week, while they represent a $310/ton fall with respect to early April. Spot butadiene prices recorded more massive drops in the period, with values plunging $610/ton on FOB South Korea basis to bring the cumulative drop to a massive $910/ton from early April. In Europe, spot ACN prices lost $80/ton on CIF MED basis on the week while they indicated a $125/ton reduction compared the beginning of the month. Butadiene prices maintained their bearish trend both in spot and contract markets in the same period. Spot butadiene costs were down €25/ton on FD NWE basis last week, bringing the total drop since early this month to €50/ton. The global bearish trend combined with lower spot values in the region pulled May butadiene contracts down by €25/ton from April as well. “We received import offers with $35-40/ton decreases from our Taiwanese supplier,” a trader told ChemOrbis. Another trader said, "Two different Asian suppliers of mine hadn’t foreseen a bearish trend before. However, I’m concerned about sharply lower ACN prices in the region now.” Overall, the local ABS natural range plunged $100-110/ton week over week amidst tough competition among distributors, with sellers issuing price cuts ranging between $60-110/ton citing unsatisfying demand. At the beginning of April, prices had mostly settled between $2500-2550/ton as the upper end prices around $2600/ton were deemed unworkable. As the end of the month rapidly approaches, offers above the $2500/ton threshold have became very scarce following some deals done at $2525/ton in the previous week. “We didn't purchase any material recently as we have sufficient stocks and the market is performing slowly,” a distributor who lowered his prices by $60-80/ton said. Another seller reduced his offers by $100/ton on very thin demand. In contrast to the ABS natural market, trading was relatively active for ABS white. The local ABS white range slumped $100/ton. “We reduced our prices by $100-150/ton in a bid to be the most competitive option in the Turkish market, but we are not offering natural grade for now,” another distributor mentioned. Nevertheless, the upper end held steady due to the stable pricing policy of a trader on his euro based European offers, as per ChemOrbis. “The ABS white market was relatively active as we achieved some sales in line with the increasing number of inquiries we received. “Our ABS white sales are better for the last couple of days which we attribute to the high season for some end applications and the fact that this is a grade which doesn't enter the market very often,” another trader said.