HOUSTON, April 21 - Asian acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) imports are growing in the US as forces majeures (FM) keep domestic producers sidelined, sources said on Wednesday.
ABS shipments arriving on the west coast were offering at least temporary relief to US buyers who saw domestic prices skyrocket after producers INEOS and BASF called forces majeures amid a shortage of feedstock butadiene (BD), sources in the market said. The FMs left SABIC Innovative Plastic the only major supplier selling ABS in the country.
US buyers who would normally have shied away from Asian suppliers because of long lead times and freight costs said they started giving them a second look after domestic supply started drying up after the February FMs.
ABS is a zoo, one broker said. Imports are up big time.
US ABS prices reached $2,690-2,822/tonne (?,991-2,088/tonne) DEL (delivered) on 16 April, up from $2,116-2,337/tonne DEL at the beginning of the year, according to ICIS pricing.
The price could go even higher as SABIC was pushing for a 23 cents/lb increase for the end of April. INEOS and BASF have said they intended to restart ABS production in May.
In Asia, ABS was assessed at $1,940-1,970/tonne CFR (cost and freight) northeast Asia on 16 April. That price could rise in the coming weeks as demand from China and BD prices are both expected to grow in the second quarter.
Monthly US imports of the plastic from Asia trailed off during the second half of 2009, falling from a high of 5,196 tonnes in August 2009 to 3,987 tonnes in December, according to statistics form the US International Trade Commission (ITC).
A total of 92,000 tonnes shipped across the Pacific last year. Korea and Taiwan supplied 40%, while China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia sent smaller amounts.
That import trend started reversing itself at the beginning of 2010, with received tonnage from the region reaching 4,480 tonnes in February, the last month for which data was available. The amount has only increased from then, buyers said.
Imports had dried up, but now I ve got (foreign) suppliers coming in that we hadn t talked to before, a buyer said.
($1 = ?.74)
ABS shipments arriving on the west coast were offering at least temporary relief to US buyers who saw domestic prices skyrocket after producers INEOS and BASF called forces majeures amid a shortage of feedstock butadiene (BD), sources in the market said. The FMs left SABIC Innovative Plastic the only major supplier selling ABS in the country.
US buyers who would normally have shied away from Asian suppliers because of long lead times and freight costs said they started giving them a second look after domestic supply started drying up after the February FMs.
ABS is a zoo, one broker said. Imports are up big time.
US ABS prices reached $2,690-2,822/tonne (?,991-2,088/tonne) DEL (delivered) on 16 April, up from $2,116-2,337/tonne DEL at the beginning of the year, according to ICIS pricing.
The price could go even higher as SABIC was pushing for a 23 cents/lb increase for the end of April. INEOS and BASF have said they intended to restart ABS production in May.
In Asia, ABS was assessed at $1,940-1,970/tonne CFR (cost and freight) northeast Asia on 16 April. That price could rise in the coming weeks as demand from China and BD prices are both expected to grow in the second quarter.
Monthly US imports of the plastic from Asia trailed off during the second half of 2009, falling from a high of 5,196 tonnes in August 2009 to 3,987 tonnes in December, according to statistics form the US International Trade Commission (ITC).
A total of 92,000 tonnes shipped across the Pacific last year. Korea and Taiwan supplied 40%, while China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia sent smaller amounts.
That import trend started reversing itself at the beginning of 2010, with received tonnage from the region reaching 4,480 tonnes in February, the last month for which data was available. The amount has only increased from then, buyers said.
Imports had dried up, but now I ve got (foreign) suppliers coming in that we hadn t talked to before, a buyer said.
($1 = ?.74)
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