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India - IOC to sell 60,000T naphtha for late March [ 03 Mar, 2010]
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will award a tender to sell 60,000 tonnes of naphtha on late Friday for late March loading at a time when demand is strong and supplies are tight, traders said on Wednesday. IOC will sell 30,000 tonnes for March 24-27 loading from Chennai, and another 30,000 tonnes for the same lifting dates, but from Kandla port in a tender that closes on Thursday.
IOC had previously fetched a premium of $16.80 a tonne to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis for 30,000 tonnes of naphtha sold to Sempra for March 7-9 loading from Kandla.
Traders expect the refiner to fetch a higher premium this week given the strength of the market.
IOC, which exported around 200,000 tonnes of naphtha in February, is expected to cut its supplies to 150,000 tonnes this month due to a new cracker starting up in end-March.
If the 60,000 tonnes sales materialise on Friday, IOC's exports for March will reach 120,000 tonnes.
Source: Reuters
Japan petchem naphtha imports dip in January [ 22 Feb, 2010]
Japan's naphtha imports for the petrochemical sector eased 2.8 percent in January from the previous month, with falls likely to accelerate over the next few months as crackers enter a heavy maintenance period.
Imports of naphtha for ethylene production last month totalled 2,126,318 kilolitres, or 1,463,834 tonnes, compared with 2,186,689 kl in December, data from Japan's trade ministry showed.
At least 2.5 million tonnes of naphtha, or about 5 percent of total demand in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will be cut because of maintenance, versus last year's 2 percent loss, and more is expected. Of that 1.6 million tonnes are from Japan, a Reuters survey showed.
In Asia, most crackers use naphtha as the main feedstock to produce olefins, namely ethylene and propylene, which are the building blocks for plastics needed in manufacturing and construction.
The average naphtha import cost in January rose 3.9 percent month-on-month to $714.40 a tonne, or 45,023 yen/kl, the figures showed.
Source: Reuters
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