Southeast Asian PET prices have been moving upwards, leading to some buyers becoming more active in the market in anticipation of further price increases, according to plastics ecommerce site ChemOrbis.
Import PET prices on a CIF SEA basis gained US$30-70/ton during the last week, following healthy buying interest.
A source at a Vietnamese producer stated, “We raised our prices by US$20-30/ton this week due to firmer upstream costs and strong demand. We believe that prices will continue to move higher over the near term.”
“The offers we received for Thai and South Korean PET have risen by US$40-60/ton when compared with the past week as costs have increased. We are seeing good demand for our end products these days,” said a Vietnamese manufacturer of bottles and caps.
Another bottle manufacturer in Vietnam added, “We received offers for Thai and South Korean PET with increases of US$50-60/ton this week. Although we think that prices will continue to rise, we are planning to delay our purchases for now as we still have enough material in stock to cover our immediate needs.”
Prices also gained ground inside the region’s local markets.
An Indonesian producer said, “We raised our PET prices to the local market by $40/ton this week and we are seeing good demand. We managed to sell a total of 1,300 tons of material on Thursday. Buyers are pre-buying material for late August and early September as they want to be able to resume their production as soon as they return to their desks after the Ramadan holidays.”
According to sources, an Indonesian converter purchased 200 tons of domestic PET last week as their suppliers have told them that prices will remain firm after the holidays and they do not want to begin the post-holiday period without any stocks. “After our latest purchases, we have enough material on hand to cover our needs for about one month,” the buyer reported.
