Weekly Methanol Report 27th November 2020

                                Weekly Price Trend: 23-11-2020 to 27-11-2020

• The above graph focuses on the Methanol price trend for the current week. Prices -remained soft-to-stable for most of the week. There has been slight decline in prices for this week.
• By the end of the week prices were assessed at the level of Rs.24.5/Kg for this week.

BOOKING SCENARIO

INDIA & INTERNATIONAL 

• Domestic prices for Methanol has been hovering in the range of Rs.24-25/Kg for this week.
• Prices for India were assessed around USD 295/MT, with an increase of USD 25/MTS for this week. CFR China prices were assessed around USD 252/MT for this week.
• On other side CFR SEA prices were assessed in the range of USD 280/MT.
• Domestic market for Methanol remained firm for this week. With onset of winter and outage of major units has led to decline in the supply of the chemical.
• CFR India prices has increased heavily due to tight supply from the Middle East. Due to Iran sanctions India imports majority from Saudi Arabia. On other hand China market has also witness rise in the prices. According to previous data the current range is quite higher in China market in the month of November.
• This clearly indicates that the supply from Iran has been weathered. China is the major importer of Iranian Methanol. The prices have strongly rallied for the Indian market as well as Chinese market.
• The other significant reason is the demand of chemical for its downstream products like Ethylene Vinyl Acetate, Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and polyvinyl alcohol.
• Now all eyes are set on new US president Biden policy for Iran nuclear deal. Leniency in the policy would ramp up the Indian imports from Iran.
• Previously India use to import 90% of its requirement form Iran. Now Iran’s imports of Methanol have declined by 90% in the year 2020 in compare to 2019 due to cancellation of wavering in policy by US government. Dependency on Middle East has also added on to the rise in prices.
• Besides that, in the meantime Iran has also increased its production capacity. Iranian capacity has almost doubled in last two years with starting of two new facilities Pars Kimiya and Bushehr facilities, based at Assaluyeh.
• On other side Indian markets are anxiously waiting for the vaccine. This week three major manufacturers have announced their vaccine efficacy so all are waiting for this vaccine. The Covid is nowhere settling in Indian cities. Major cities have announced curfew in night hours to control the pandemic.
• The Indian Prime Minister is expected to make a major announcement in a day or two regarding this pandemic vaccination. However, government has intimated all its efforts to boost the economy.
• WTI was down by 69 cents, or 1.5%, at $45.02 by 0104 GMT. U.S. crude prices did not settle on Thursday due to the holiday. Brent crude was up by 9 cents at $47.89, having fallen 1.7% overnight.
• Both benchmarks have risen about 6% this week, after AstraZeneca earlier announced that its Covid-19 vaccine could be up to 90% effective, adding to successful trial results of two others under development in the fight to end the worst pandemic in a century.
• But questions have been raised over the so-called “vaccine for the world” as several scientists have sounded doubts over how robust the results of the trials were.

METHANEX announced its Asian contract prices for the month of December 2020

Canada based Methanex has posted its North American and Asian contract prices for the month of December 2020. Asian contract prices are USD 350/MT, increased by USD 40/MT for this month while prices posted for North America is USD 399/MT.

$1 = Rs. 74.05

Import Custom Ex. Rate USD/ INR: 75.20

Export Custom Ex. Rate USD/ INR: 73.50