VINACHEM

Asia’s butadiene (BD) prices may fall below $2,000/tonne as buyers retreated amid plummeting domestic prices of the material in China, and dragged down by weakness in upstream crude and naphtha values.

BD discussions were heard at around $1,800-1,900/tonne CFR (cost and freight) northeast (NE) Asia for April loading this week, with buyers pressing for lower prices.

“We heard that traders with BD stocks on hand were willing to sell at $2,100/tonne CFR NE Asia, and buyers dropped their bids to around $1,700-1,800/tonne CFR NE Asia,” a trader said.

On 10 March, spot BD prices were assessed at $2,300/tonne CFR (cost and freight) NE Asia, falling for the fourth consecutive week. Prices had tumbled by $700/tonne since hitting $3,000/tonne CFR NE Asia in early February, ICIS data showed.

Buyers had been holding back their purchases and closely monitoring the slumping domestic BD prices in China.

Chinese domestic BD prices had plunged by more than yuan (CNY) 9,000/tonne since mid-February to CNY17,200/tonne delivered in east China on 10 March.

Falling crude and naphtha prices further weighed on the regional BD market.

At midday, crude futures fell to three-month lows, with May BRENT down 33 US cents at $51.04/bbl, and April WTI down 40 cents at $48.09/bbl; while naphtha prices slumped $9.50/tonne to $454.25-456.25/tonne CFR Japan.