China Morning Snapshot – 18 March 2019
China Morning Snapshot – 18 March 2019
LL C4 Film PPH Inj PPH Raf
Futures market continues to slide this morning with May delivery contract for LLDPE reaches the lowest levels since February 2019. Such development also affected sentiment in the spot ground negatively.
Details on the spot and futures prices are shown in the following table:
|
18 March 2019 |
Prices in CNY |
USD Equivalent |
Changes in CNY |
Changes in USD |
|
|
Dalian Commodity Exchange (Mid-day closing) |
|
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|
PP 1905 |
CNY 8505 |
USD 1093 |
-CNY 178 |
-USD 27 |
|
|
LLDPE 1905 |
CNY 8375 |
USD 1076 |
-CNY 185 |
-USD 28 |
|
|
Spot Domestic Prices (EXW China, Cash equivalent) |
|
|
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|
PPH (East China) |
CNY 8650-8700 |
USD 1111-1118 |
-CNY 150-200 |
-USD 22-30 |
|
|
LLDPE (North China) |
CNY 8650-8750 |
USD 1111-1124 |
-CNY 50 |
-USD 7 |
|
|
**All USD equivalent prices are exclusive of 16% VAT |
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|
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Exchange rate: USD 1 = CNY 6.71 |
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Total inventories at Sinopec and CNPC’s warehouses piled up 65,000 tons from last Friday to 995,000 tons as on 18 March 2019.
Local traders become more willing to offer discount to encourage purchases, especially for homo-PP and yet, many complained that demand remains subdue. Players fear that this condition might persist in the coming days amid the wait-and-see attitude among buyers, who are patiently waiting for the implementation of the new VAT rate on 1 April.
“If buyers hold purchases now, they would have to buy in April. Therefore, we think the current downtrend in local ground is not sustainable,” a trader commented.