Asian paraxylene fell US$33/mt day on day Friday to be assessed at US$1494/mt CFR Taiwan/China -- the lowest level to date in 2012. The market continued to be dampened by bearish demand Friday, this time due to fresh financial concerns after US banking giant JP Morgan Chase reported a US$2 billion loss on derivatives trading since March. The Asian PX market also came under pressure by a slide in cotton futures on China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange. "There are no serious buyers in the PX market right now," a trader source said.
Market sentiment was dampened further late Friday with offer levels for June or July dropping to US$1510/mt CFR Taiwan/Ningbo, while a bid was reported at US$1500/mt CFR Taiwan/Ningbo for July. US PXwas stable Thursday at US$1515/mt FOB USG. European PX was assessed flat at US$1480/mt FOB ARA Thursday.
A drop in energy prices due to macroeconomic woes in the eurozone sent H2 June Asian styrene monomer prices down US$8/mt to US$1432/mt FOB Korea, shown in red below, as sellers still seemed to outnumber buyers. A Northeast Asian SM trader said that after crude tumbled, "the market is not so active -- almost no buyers, only indications -- all wait and see".
14-May-12 
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