Platts changes frequency of CFR India toluene assessment to daily

S&P Global Platts has started publishing the CFR India toluene assessment on a daily basis, and has launched a daily CFR India cash differential assessment against its existing FOB Korea toluene assessment from August 3, 2020.

The changes are in response to a shift in trading dynamics that Platts has observed in the Indian toluene market over the last few years amid rising imports into the South Asian country. In the last fiscal year (April 2018-March 2019), India imported 438,055 mt of toluene, up 5.77% from the year-ago period, data from India's Export-Import Bank showed. Over April 2019-January 2020, the country imported 357,518 mt of toluene.

Platts first proposed the changes in a subscriber note published June 5, 2020, (https://bit.ly/3eE6orR).

ASSESSMENT FREQUENCY

Platts has started assessing CFR India toluene on a daily basis at the close of Asian trade at 4:30 pm Singapore time (0830 GMT). Previously, the CFR India assessment was a weekly assessment published every Friday at the 4:30 pm close.

CASH DIFFERENTIAL

Platts has launched a daily CFR India cash differential assessment, in response to the greater number of bids, offers, trades and indications heard on a floating price basis. The cash differential would reflect the value of the CFR India assessment above the Platts daily FOB Korea toluene marker (daily price database code PHASO05) at the 4:30 pm close.

The daily assessment for the CFR India marker and the cash differential now appear in Asian Petrochemicalscan and Platts Petrochemical Alert pages 218, 235 and 326, under the price database code AAVBQ04 and AATBR00. The monthly average price database codes of AAVBQ03 and AATBR03 appear in page 436 and 449.

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