Import offers for GPPS and HIPS decline in Asia on excess inventories

15-Mar-10

Import offers for GPPS and HIPS tracked a declining trend in Asia this week, mainly from traders who elected to reduce prices in a bid to work off some of their excess inventories as March demand has failed to live up to sellers’ expectations, as per Chemorbis. A Chinese trader was reported to have reduced offers by US$25-40/ton in the week due to lackluster demand and relatively high inventory levels, with preparedness to consider further discounts for serious buyers. The trader’s new offer levels come to US$1395-1405/ton CFR China, cash for GPPS and to US$1500-1505/ton with the same terms for HIPS. A distributor in Vietnam reported receiving offers for Thai and Taiwanese GPPS at US$1390-1420/ton CIF Vietnam, cash this week, representing declines of US$30-60/ton when compared with the most recent offers for these origins. Despite the decreasing trend in the import market, distributors are not planning to make any fresh purchases for now in an attempt to pare down their own stock levels.