Chemicals, Solvents & Intermediates, Olefins, Polymers

December 05, 2024

Platts to change its Southeast Asia polyethylene and polypropylene coverage

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will launch new CFR Vietnam assessments for polyethylene and polypropylene, effective Jan. 8, 2025, to provide more price transparency for deliveries of products into the Vietnamese market.

As part of the launch of these new assessments, Platts will no longer reflect deliveries into Vietnam in its respective CFR Southeast Asia PE and PP assessments.

Platts has observed a structural pricing disparity between cargoes delivered to Vietnam and to the other standard ports reflected in the current CFR Southeast Asia PE and PP assessments.

The changes were first proposed in a subscriber note published Oct. 15 here.

New CFR Vietnam assessments

Platts will launch a suite of new CFR Vietnam assessments for polyethylene and polypropylene, which will reflect "non-dutiable" cargoes, i.e. those which are not subject to import duties. The new assessments will reflect cargoes between 100-500 mt for delivery into Vietnam, on Ho Chi Minh City basis, with credit terms of up to L/C 30 days.

The new assessments will be databased under the following codes:

Product Weekly Monthly Average
High-density polyethylene blow molding PBDHV00 PBDHV03
High-density polyethylene injection PBCHV00 PBCHV03
High-density polyethylene film PBAHV00 PBAHV03
High-density polyethylene yarn PBBHV00 PBBHV03
Linear low-density polyethylene PBEHV00 PBEHV03
Linear low-density polyethylene metallocene C6 PBFHV00 PBFHV03
Low-density polyethylene PBGHV00 PBGHV03
Polypropylene raffia PBHHV00 PBHHV03
Polypropylene homopolymer injection PBIHV00 PBIHV03
Polypropylene inflation film (IPP) PBKHV00 PBKHV03
Polypropylene biaxially oriented film (BOPP) PBJHV00 PBJHV03
Polypropylene block copolymer PBLHV00 PBLHV03

The product specifications and delivery laycans of the new CFR Vietnam assessments will be aligned with the respective specifications of the existing CFR Southeast Asia assessments and will be as follows:

Product Specification Delivery laycan
HDPE injection Melt flow index of 2.0-25.0, with most of business focused on crate grade material with melt flow index of 5.0-11.0. 15- 30 days forward
HDPE blow molding Medium molecular weight with melt flow index of 0.2-0.35. 15- 30 days forward
HDPE film High and medium molecular weight material with melt flow index of 0.07-0.18. 15- 30 days forward
HDPE yarn Melt flow index of 0.7-1.1. 15- 30 days forward
LDPE Melt flow index of 0.3-4.0. 15- 30 days forward
LDPE Butene grade with melt flow index of 1.0-2.0. 15- 30 days forward
LLDPE metallocene C6 1-hexene comonomer with a density of 918- 940 kg /m3 with a melt flow index between 1.0 and 4.5 15- 30 days forward
Raffia (also known as flat yarn) Melt flow rate of 2.0-4.5 at 230°VC. 20- 45 days forward
Homopolymer injection Melt flow rate of 11-20 at 230°VC. 20- 45 days forward
IPP, BOPP and block copolymer Melt flow rate of 6-20 at 230°VC. 20- 45 days forward

These assessments, to be published every Wednesday, will be based on the latest information sourced from the market up to the close of the assessment process at 4:30 pm Singapore time (0830 GMT). These will be published in $/mt, and follow the Singapore publishing schedule.

CFR Southeast Asia assessments changes

Simultaneously, Platts will exclude Vietnam as a delivery location from its respective CFR Southeast Asia assessments.

The assessments will continue to reflect cargoes subject to import duties ("dutiable" product) to the delivery locations in the CFR Southeast Asia assessment.

The standard ports for these assessments will include Indonesia (Jakarta, Surabaya), Singapore, the Philippines (Manila Bay), Malaysia (Port Klang), Thailand (Map Ta Phut, Laem Chabang), and will no longer include Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City).

These changes will affect the following assessments:

Code Weekly Mavg
HDPE B/ Mldg CFR SE Asia Weekly AAAYO00 AAAYP00
HDPE Film CFR SE Asia Weekly PHALD00 PHBBH03
HDPE Inj CFR SE Asia Weekly PHAHO00 PHBBB03
HDPE Yarn Grade CFR SE Asia Weekly AAVAJ04 AAVAJ03
LDPE G-P CFR SE Asia Weekly PHAHU00 PHBAS03
LLDPE Butene CFR SE Asia Weekly PHAHA00 PHBAW03
LLDPE C6 Metallocene CFR SE Asia Weekly AAXYN04 AAXYN03
PP Raffia CFR SE Asia Weekly PHBIJ04 PHBIJ03
PP Inj CFR SE Asia Weekly PHBIH04 PHBIH03
PP Inflated Film CFR SE Asia Weekly PHASK05 PHASL03
PP Bi-axially Oriented Film CFR SE Asia Weekly AAAYY00 AAAYZ00
PP Copol CFR SE Asia Weekly PHAIA00 PHBCI03

There will be no changes to the other parameters of the CFR Southeast Asia assessments.

The new CFR Vietnam and the existing CFR Southeast Asia assessments for polyethylene will be published on PCA266, PCA270 and PCA274.

The new CFR Vietnam and the existing CFR Southeast Asia assessments for polypropylene will be published on PCA282 and PCA411.

Both sets of assessments will also be published on PCA530, PCA462, Platts Connect, Platts Market Center, in Asian Petrochemicalscan and Polymerscan.

Please send all feedback, comments and questions to petchems@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com

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