SINGAPORE,May 07-Asian polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) prices jumped to 17-month highs and look set to continue rising given strong demand, particularly for applications in ultra flat-screen televisions (TVs), industry sources said on Friday.
Current PMMA supply could not cover the strong surge in demand, exacerbating the pressure on prices, they said.
On Thursday, spot PMMA prices hit $2,470-2,530 (?,951-1,999/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia, a range not seen since December 2008.
Prices had gone up by about 23% since the start of the year, with strong expectations of continued uptrend, market sources said.
We are still optimistic about even higher prices for May and June, said a major producer.
China, where sales of flat-screen TVs using the new light-emitting diode (LED) technology had been brisk, was fuelling the demand for optical grade PMMA, industry sources said.
Strong demand from TV manufacturers since the LED technology was introduced had seen the robust consumption of optical grade PMMA in recent years, market sources said.
This grade, which is also used in computer monitors, currently has more than a quarter share to total demand projected at around 600,000 tonnes this year, while about three-quarters continued to come from general purpose PMMA, they said.
But the balance is already changing. Demand for optical grade PMMA is very strong now, said the major producer.
LED screens are made of optical grade PMMA, making them thinner compared to older models. The sheets used in LED TVs and monitors are partly methyl methacrylate (MMA)-based cast sheets and partly extrusion sheets based on PMMA.
General purpose PMMA, meanwhile, is used in extrusion sheets and household products such as photo frames, souvenirs, lighting covers, reading/sun glasses.
The prevailing tight supply condition in the PMMA market was exacerbated by a one-week outage at the 50,000 tonne/year No 2 plant of Sumitomo Chemical in Singapore due to mechanical problems in late April.
Sumitomo s No 1 line, which has the same production capacity, had also been shut for two weeks of maintenance in early April.
While the plant had been brought back on stream, Sumitomo currently supplies to customers on an allocation basis, said a company official.
Some of our customers are getting only 60-70% of their normal orders, some even don t get any. We have no choice but to increase our prices, the official said.
There seemed to be no resistance to higher prices, he said.
Surprisingly, even general purpose grades customers are still accepting higher prices even though this coming June is the off peak period for them. It s something we never encountered before. the source added.
Current PMMA supply could not cover the strong surge in demand, exacerbating the pressure on prices, they said.
On Thursday, spot PMMA prices hit $2,470-2,530 (?,951-1,999/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia, a range not seen since December 2008.
Prices had gone up by about 23% since the start of the year, with strong expectations of continued uptrend, market sources said.
We are still optimistic about even higher prices for May and June, said a major producer.
China, where sales of flat-screen TVs using the new light-emitting diode (LED) technology had been brisk, was fuelling the demand for optical grade PMMA, industry sources said.
Strong demand from TV manufacturers since the LED technology was introduced had seen the robust consumption of optical grade PMMA in recent years, market sources said.
This grade, which is also used in computer monitors, currently has more than a quarter share to total demand projected at around 600,000 tonnes this year, while about three-quarters continued to come from general purpose PMMA, they said.
But the balance is already changing. Demand for optical grade PMMA is very strong now, said the major producer.
LED screens are made of optical grade PMMA, making them thinner compared to older models. The sheets used in LED TVs and monitors are partly methyl methacrylate (MMA)-based cast sheets and partly extrusion sheets based on PMMA.
General purpose PMMA, meanwhile, is used in extrusion sheets and household products such as photo frames, souvenirs, lighting covers, reading/sun glasses.
The prevailing tight supply condition in the PMMA market was exacerbated by a one-week outage at the 50,000 tonne/year No 2 plant of Sumitomo Chemical in Singapore due to mechanical problems in late April.
Sumitomo s No 1 line, which has the same production capacity, had also been shut for two weeks of maintenance in early April.
While the plant had been brought back on stream, Sumitomo currently supplies to customers on an allocation basis, said a company official.
Some of our customers are getting only 60-70% of their normal orders, some even don t get any. We have no choice but to increase our prices, the official said.
There seemed to be no resistance to higher prices, he said.
Surprisingly, even general purpose grades customers are still accepting higher prices even though this coming June is the off peak period for them. It s something we never encountered before. the source added.
