Have Asian PET prices bottomed out?

Global PET markets were seen plunging amid weaker upstream costs and thin buying interest, as per ChemOrbis. Some Asian markets like China and Vietnam hit year-low levels. Global PET players were expecting some revival with China’s return from their New Year holiday by the second week of February. However, opposite to the expectations and the traditional trend, China returned on a softer note. On top of that, PET prices continued to move down as PTA, MEG and PX costs did not stop their decreases and China’s export prices hit their lowest levels seen since July 2012. However, this past week, upstream markets started to gain lost ground while the high season for PET applications is nearing. In the feedstock market, Asian PTA prices gained US$15/ton while MEG prices recorded a larger gain of US$35/ton. PX costs, on the other hand, indicated only a slow recovery of US$5/ton during the same period. Although PET prices continued to spiral down in global markets during this past week, expectations started to be more optimistic for the following week. Export PET prices out of China increased by $10/ton while prices given out of South Korea maintained their previous week’s levels. A Chinese producer said, “We lifted our export prices by US$10-20/ton in line with the recent recovery on costs. PET demand is relatively better after the recent increases while turnarounds for PTA helped prices to firm up.” Another producer said, “PTA and MEG costs rebounded after continuous decreases. Hainan Yisheng shut their 200,000 tpa PTA plant in early March for a month-long planned maintenance. The producer is also planning to shut their 300,000 tpa PTA plant later in March. Regarding PET demand, we saw healthy buying interest both in the local and export markets during this past week as some buyers stepped back into the market to restock.” A converter in Turkey also highlighted receiving higher import Chinese PET offers with respect to the previous week. Meanwhile, a trader underlined the fact that the recent increases seen on feedstock costs resulted in slight movements in the market, which had been weak in terms of demand for awhile. According to ChemOrbis, meanwhile, in Egypt, import Far Eastern PET prices saw decreases on a week over week basis but a buyer noted that he was warned by his supplier about prospective increases in line with firming feedstock costs in Asia. A trader operating in that country also commented, “PET supplies are adequate while demand is weak. However, PET prices might see some increases on the back of the firmer freight costs as well as the PTA and MEG costs.”