Methanex raises North American January methanol CP to highest in more than 2 years

Canada's Methanex nominated its North American methanol contract price at 145 cents/gal for January, up 25 cents/gal from December's level, it said.

The company increased the contract price to 120 cents/gal in December from 114 cents/gal in November.

January's price rise represents the fifth price rise in a row for the producer and the highest contract pricing level set by Methanex since November 2018, when the contract price was set at 156 cents/gal, up 7 cents/gal from the previous month.

The rise in the January contract price coincides with a higher monthly average for prompt-month domestic methanol so far in December of 115.50 cents/gal, compared with November's average spot price of 96.74 cents/gal.

Spot methanol received support throughout December from regional supply tightness spurred by low regional storage levels following a slew of unplanned outages earlier in the year.

In addition, robust demand from winter applications also supported spot methanol prices, with demand still strong from the construction sector moving into the winter months, despite normal seasonal declines.

Moving into 2021, domestic supply is expected to remain tight with new regional production anticipated to come online later than expected.

At the same time, demand for methanol from derivative products including acetic acid and formaldehyde, is anticipated to remain strong as economies bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, spot methanol values are expected to remain strong moving through the first quarter of 2021, according to industry sources.

Methanex's posted contract price does not include discounts. In December, discounts averaged around 25%, according to S&P Global Platts data.