Naphtha crack in Asia dips to over one-month low

26-Aug-15

The Asian naphtha crack weakened for the third straight session to a more than one-month low of US$68.05/ton on the back of softer petrochemical prices and weak end-user demand, as per Reuters. "Crude came off a lot and petrochemical prices have also dropped," said a Singapore-based naphtha trader. Oil prices hit their lowest since early 2009 on Monday, tracking a slump in Chinese equities, which fell nearly 9% in what was their worst performance since the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009. The weak demand on the end-user segment had offset the impact of fewer arbitrage barrels. "We are expecting less arbitrage volumes coming into this region over September and up till first-half October, so the market should be tighter soon," the trader added. Bids for propane and liquefied petroleum gas eased $4 a tonne each to $388 a tonne and $403 a tonne on Monday, data from brokers showed.