Platts proposes changes to weekly Middle East-India polymer freight assessments

S&P Global Platts is proposing several changes to its weekly Middle East to India polymer freight assessments, effective Feb. 9, 2022 .

The proposal includes changes to the load and discharge ports, as well as calibration of the assessments against relevant container rates.

DISCHARGE PORTS: Platts is proposing to amend the basket of discharge ports to India's Mundra, Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) and Mumbai ports. Platts understands that a vast majority of polymer supply into India are delivered into JNPT and Mundra. India imported 1.043 mil mt of the major polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride) in 2019 and 0.9 mil mt in 2020, according to India customs statistics. Of these, 74%-79% are delivered into West Coast India, according to source estimates. The proposed amendment to the discharge port basket would better reflect the current trade flow. Currently, the discharge ports are specified as Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

LOAD PORTS: Platts is proposing to change the basket of load ports to Jebel Ali and Salalah to better reflect liquidity of the freight routes and streamline the assessments to reflect loadings from Persian Gulf ports. The current load ports used are Jebel Ali (Dubai), Khalifa (Abu Dhabi), Jubail and Rabigh (Saudi Arabia), Shuaiba (Kuwait), Mesaieed (Qatar), Assaluyeh and Bandar Imam Khomeini (Iran).

CONTAINER RATES: Platts is also proposing to calibrate its polymer freight assessments against the newly launched daily Middle East-West Coast India container box rates. Currently, the Middle East to India polymer freight assessments are published in $/mt at the close of Asian trade at 4:30 pm Singapore time (0830 GMT), every Wednesday. Under the proposal, Platts would compare the pricing information, received from market participants, with its daily 5:30 pm Singapore time (0930 GMT) container box rate assessments (https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/110121-platts-launches-west-coast-india-middle-east-container-rate-assessments). The following conversion factors to derive a $/mt freight rate for polymers would be used:

The affected assessments can be found on Platts Petrochemical Alert fixed pages 628, 629, on the Petrochemicals service on Platts Dimensions Pro and Platts Market Center, in Polymerscan and Asia Dry Freight Wire publications and in the Platts database under the codes listed below:

Please send any comments and questions to petchems@spglobal.com with a copy to pricegroup@spglobal.com by Dec. 17, 2021. For written comments, please provide a clear indication if they are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.