Asia top stories – weekly summary

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 1 November.

Oil slumps as Mideast supply disruption concerns ease; China data weighs
By Jonathan Yee 28-Oct-24 13:05 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Oil prices tumbled by more than $4/barrel on Monday morning as fears over potential supply disruptions in the Middle East eased, with sentiment weighed down by a sharp contraction in China’s September industrial profits.

Rising China phenol supply to continue to dampen market
By Yoyo Liu 29-Oct-24 12:26 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–After hitting a year-to-date high on 10 September, China’s domestic phenol prices fell significantly, especially after the National Day holiday (1-7 October), due to expectations of increasing supply.

Long supply, weak demand hound China benzene market
By Yoyo Liu 29-Oct-24 15:15 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–China’s domestic benzene prices fell by 15% over a two-month period due to increased supply and a weaker-than-expected demand – market conditions that are likely to persist in November.

Asia BDO sees some support from China; long-term outlook uncertain
By Corey Chew 30-Oct-24 16:14 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–The Asia 1,4-butanediol (BDO) market recently saw an uptrend in the local China market due to strict production cuts.

UPDATE: Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical trims fiscal H1 net loss; eyes LDPE output cut
By Pearl Bantillo 30-Oct-24 19:11 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Sumitomo Chemical trimmed its fiscal H1 to September 2024 net loss to Japanese yen (Y) 6.5 billion ($42 million), aided by sales growth of about 5%, while it seeks to rationalize operations to boost profitability.

UPDATE: SCG invests $700 million in Vietnam’s LSP ethane enhancement project
By Fanny Zhang 31-Oct-24 15:09 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) will invest $700 million to pave the way for Vietnam’s first integrated petrochemical complex to use US ethane as feedstock for production.

China SM producers regain margins, draw downstream support
By Aviva Zhang 01-Nov-24 16:19 SINGAPORE (ICIS)–China’s non-integrated styrene monomer (SM) plants’ margins hit year-to-date highs on 30 October given widened product price spread over feedstock benzene, with expectations that end-user demand will pick up in November.