Naphtha prices in Asia continue to dip, falling for fourth consecutive session

26-Aug-10

Naphtha prices in Asia continued to dip, falling for the fourth straight session to settle at nearly a month-low, and physical cracks have eased from an 11-week high on muted spot demand in South Korea, as per Reuters. A brief lull was seen after around 200,000 tons of purchases for H1-October arrival from YNCC, Honam and LG Chem. Many players believe the market to be overheated with sufficient supply and demand. Hence buyers are not in a rush to conclude deals and have preferred to wait in the sidelines. On the supply front, India's supplies to the market remain steady at 850,000 tons for September, amid ample supply to come from the Middle East as Gulf suppliers failed to term up all their barrels and have to look to the spot market for support. Open spec naphtha for H1-October fell by almost five dollars to US$658/ton, lowest since July 30. Naphtha cracks (profit/loss of refining Brent crude into naphtha) fell by over five dollars to US$109.75/ton premium.