Styrene Monomer Weekly Report 16 August 2019
Weekly Price Trend: 12-08-2019 to 16-08-2019
- If we take a quick look at the above given weekly prices, it can be observed that for the current week prices of Styrene Monomer has reduced slightly for this week.
- On Friday domestic values were assessed around Rs.76/Kg for bulk quantity at Kandla and Rs.78/kg for Mumbai ports of India reduced by Rs.2/Kg for both the ports.
Booking Price
INDIA& INTERNATIONAL
- The domestic prices of Styrene were assessed at the level of Rs.76/Kg for Kandla and Rs. 78/kg Mumbai ports. Domestic prices reduced with inception of this week itself.
- On other side, FOB Korea values for Styrene were assessed around USD 965-985/MT, increased by USD 10/MT in this week. On other side CFR China prices also improved for this week and were assessed at the level of USD 1005-1025/MT increased by USD 10/MT for this week. South East Asia prices of SM were evaluated at USD 1000/MT.
- The ongoing tensions between India and neighbouring state have been a matter of concern. The neighbouring state has cut down its all ties with India. Although this will not have major impact on India economy.
- India’s nine-month long demand slump in automobile industry - July sales dipping to its lowest level in 20 years - has affected the auto components and ancillary industries including petrochemicals triggering job cuts and production slowdown. This slowdown in the auto industry is also being reflected in the ancillary industries, which includes the chemicals and plastics segments.
- Leading Indian paints manufacturers Asian Paints and Berger Paints have noted a downward pressure on their automotive paints segment due to the slowdown.
- Paint manufacturers use crude oil derivatives such as titanium dioxide, ethylene glycol and plasticizers as raw materials.
- Chemicals, technical textiles and engineering plastics manufacturer SRF Ltd has seen a 11% decline in sales in its technical textiles segment in the first quarter of 2019-20 and expects the subdued demand from the automotive industry to continue in the near term, a company source said.
- The slowdown in the auto industry has also affected the demand for phenol-based derivatives, said Deepak Mehta, chief managing director of chemicals manufacturer Deepak Nitrite while reviewing the company’s first quarter results.
PLANT NEWS
Hanwha Total to restart its SM unit
- South Korean petrochemical manufacturer Hanwha Total will soon restart its SM production. Hanwha Total first took both its SM production lines off line on 27 March for scheduled maintenance. Both lines were supposed to restart on 6 May but the producer declared force majeure on SM supplies to its customer on 9 May because of a lack of manpower and feedstock as it was hit by a workers' union strike.
- Hanwha Total tried to operate the smaller SM unit with limited manpower but was later forced to shut the unit completely after being hit by two explosions on 17 May and 18 May. The South Korean government has inspected both units and given its approval to restart.
Petrochemical unit shutdown by PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical
- Petro China Dushanzi Petrochemical has shutdown its no1 and no2 cracker unit for maintenance turnaround. The units were shutdown in the last week of July 2019. The cracker is likely to remain off-stream for around two months. Units are based at Xinjiang, China, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene capacity of 260,000 mt/year and No. 2 cracker has an ethylene capacity of 1 million mt/year.
$1 = Rs. 71.55
Import Custom Ex. Rate USD/ INR: 71.85
Export Custom Ex. Rate USD/ INR: 70.15
