Weekly Methanol Report 20th November 2020 20 Nov 20, 05:32 pm

Weekly Methanol Report 20th November 2020

Methanol Report:

As domestic prices were not published for this week so their domestic prices graph is not being shown over here.
By end of this week prices were assessed at the level of Rs.23.5/Kg, for both the ports. Prices have been operating on higher note.

BOOKING SCENARIO

INDIA & INTERNATIONAL

Domestic prices for Methanol has been operating on positive note. Prices were assessed in the range of Rs.23.5-24/Kg.
Prices for India were assessed around USD 280/MT, with slight rise in prices for this week. CFR China prices were assessed around USD 242/MT for this week.
On other side CFR SEA prices were assessed in the range of USD 280/MT.
Domestic market for Methanol remained volatile for this week. With onset of winter and outage of major units has led to decline in the supply of the chemical.
With recent election results in US the new policies are awaited by rest of the world. The Trump government has declared sanctions on import from Iran leading to change in the Methanol trade flow in the South Asian nations.
With change in policies and the softer outlook which could be one of the possibilities anticipated from Biden government will impact India the most and will help in regaining the supply from Iran again. Further Iran has been increasing its capacity since last two years. Besides Iran, other countries are also planning to expand their methanol capacity. Both the US and Russia will have at least one new unit each starting-up in 2021, with more to come over the coming years.
China has been focusing more on MTO units. With concern to pollution industry has been more focused towards methanol based Olefins units rather than coal based olefins units.
There has been strengthening in Methanol prices in last one week in
US market due to strong demand and tightened supply in the international market. The level has reached to the one which were assessed in the starting of the year. Later during lockdown prices declined as shutdown has led to weakening in the demand.
But now the scenario is all sound different. The supply has become stringent due to unplanned shutdown of units which has led to decline in the inventory levels in the month of October. Further the ongoing shutdown at Methanex's Geismar II facility in Louisiana has further contributed to limited availability of spot volumes.
The difficult time has again started as Covid cases has increased abruptly in national capital along with major cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad. Safety concerns were not given priority during this lockdown which has ended into rise in this pandemic.
Many state governments have already declared complete lockdown again for 2-3 days during this weekend.
During this Diwali central government has announced for its third stimulus package to support the Indian economy.
Crude values witnessed at quintessential increase due to positive sentiment for the vaccine. With positive review for Pfizer and Moderna vaccine has risen the prices in international market despite of rise in Covid infections and increased lockdown measures.