SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Cargoes of toluene di-isocyanate (TDI) produced by Saudi Arabia’s Sadara Chemical have arrived in various parts of Asia, marking the company’s initial foray into the world’s largest TDI market, sources said.

Buyers in northeast (NE) Asia said they had received sample cargoes of TDI from Sadara, while other market sources said they had also seen drummed cargoes of Sadara’s TDI in southeast (SE) Asia.

Sources in Sadara confirmed to ICIS that TDI cargoes were available in the market but did not elaborate on where these cargoes had been shipped to or the volume available.

Sadara, which is a joint venture between state-owned Saudi Aramco and US’ Dow Chemical Co, is expecting to produce 200,000 tonnes/year of TDI, 400,000 tonnes/year of polymeric methyl di-p-phenylene isocyanate (PMDI) and 400,000 tonnes/year of polyether polyols at its petrochemical complex in Jubail.

The company started TDI production in August 2017 and by November it had shipped some sample cargoes to customers in Saudi Arabia.

The arrival of Sadara TDI cargoes in Asia is not expected to have any major impact yet as market players had already been anticipating it within the first quarter of 2018.

Picture: A container ship at sea. (Source: Stock Connection/REX/Shutterstock)