Improvement in July demand reported by Asian PVC sellers

02-Jul-10

Despite ongoing concerns about the health of the global economy and a slackening real estate market in China, Asian PVC sellers are reporting better demand in the region for July, as per Chemorbis. The spurt in demand has been prompted by a need on part of the buyers to replenish their stocks after drastically reducing their purchases in both May and June. Buyers’ willingness to buy has been aided by sellers’ willingness to concede to large decreases on their July offer levels. Offers for mainstream Asian origins in the Chinese market were announced with initial decreases of US$80-100/ton from the June done deal level, with most early July deals being concluded with additional discounts of US$20-30/ton from producers’ initial offer levels. After seeing good sales on their July business, a major Taiwanese producer surprised the market by announcing a price increase of twenty dollars on offers for the remainder of July, with this increase amount also being recorded in India and Southeast Asia. This was followed by implementation of similar increases on traders offers for Asian origins. So far, these new higher offer levels have not met with acceptance from buyers, although buyers may get more pressured to purchase at the higher end in the coming week as most sellers offering at the lower end of the range have been nearly sold out. Sellers in India and Southeast Asia also report seeing better buying interest for their July business despite of the fact that PVC demand in these regions is traditionally slowed at this time of the year owing to the monsoon season. A producer in Vietnam reported that they are seeing brisk sales for July after announcing their initial offers for the month with decreases of US$60-70/ton from their June deals earlier this week, with the producer commenting that they are feeling satisfied with their sales in spite of their decision to forgo exports for July due to higher freight rates and sluggish demand in their traditional export markets. An Indonesian producer, who also announced their initial July offers at the beginning of this week, said that they are seeing surprisingly healthy buying interest. The producers’ offer levels stand close to the lower end of the overall range while a Thai producer offering at the low end of the range commented that they have already nearly sold out their July allocation.