Asia's petrochemicals market was mixed

Recently, ICIS released the Asia Petrochemical Products Report
.
The report shows that the Asian petrochemical market is mixed
, affected by economic headwinds and high inflation.

ICIS said that for the acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymer (ABS) market, market support is limited due to weak downstream demand, while the price of raw material benzene and styrene monomer has also weakened
.
In addition, the fourth quarter was a typical seasonal demand off-season, with soaring energy costs during the Russia-Ukraine conflict exacerbating sluggish
end-user consumption.

In the liquid caustic soda spot market, oversupply continues, with Asian producers focusing on exports amid sluggish demand
.
The depreciation of major currencies against the dollar has also spurred Asian producers to export more
.
Arbitrage demand from Europe remains subdued, and Asian sellers have no choice but to lower prices to encourage buying activity
.

In the adipic acid market, export prices in Asia continued to decline
due to fluctuations in the price of benzene, a raw material in the market.
For goods from other markets, price pressures from rising costs are diminishing
due to a lack of spot demand.

In contrast, the paraxylene (PX) market in Asia was supported
by reduced supply due to lower plant runs and planned plant closures.
The relatively strong price of its feedstock isomer-grade mixed xylene has led PX producers in Asia to prefer to sell their feedstock rather than produce PX
at uneconomical production margins.
Refineries are also working to increase the maximum production of middle distillates for better margins, limiting the operating rate
of aromatics production units.
Reduced PX production and no planned closure of downstream purified terephthalic acid (PTA) facilities led to a rapid tightening
of PX supply in Asia.
The tight PX market will only ease
after new PX facilities come on stream from the end of this year to the beginning of the first quarter of 2023.