Indonesia's Chandra Asri skips spot naphtha purchases in June

12-May-11

Indonesia's Chandra Asri will not buy any spot naphtha cargoes for June as it advances a medium range-sized term cargo scheduled for delivery into Anyer in July to meet its June requirements, as per Platts. This decision comes amid firm premiums being reported from India and the Middle East, which have translated to strong CFR premiums for Asian markets. Chandra Asri usually seeks 1-2 medium range-sized parcels of either light or full-range naphtha each month, which it feeds into its sole naphtha-fed steam cracker at Anyer. The cracker can produce 600,000 tpa of ethylene and 306,000 tpa of propylene. For May and June, the company is keeping its cracker run rate stable at 90%. Medium range-sized cargoes of light naphtha for delivery in the H1- June into Anyer is estimated to command a premium of around US$20/mt to MOPJ naphtha assessments, which could have contributed to Chandra Asri's decision to not buy a spot cargo for June. This is the second consecutive month that the petrochemical producer has decided to skip spot purchases. The company last bought two spot naphtha parcels totaling 60,000 mt for delivery into Anyer for April delivery. However, the company may have to seek more spot cargoes for July.