TDI Prices on the Rise in Asia

PUdaily, Shanghai-At present, in domestic TDI market, Shanghai TDI price with invoice is heard at RMB 34,000-35,000/ton on Oct. 10, other domestic TDI prices with invoice are offered at around RMB 33,000/ton, with an increase of RMB 6,500-8,000/ton when compared with that of Sep. 30. On downstream industries, several rounds of increases in sponge prices are announced by many sponge producers because of the significant continuous increase in raw materials of upstream industries.

Foreign TDI market also flourishes. All TDI prices in South Korea, Japan and India are offered at around USD 2,500-2,800/ton in October, increasing by USD 200-450/ton on the average price compared with September, which hits a new high record since March, 2016. In addition to price increase, the shortage in TDI of foreign market is becoming more and more serious. From Southeast Asia to India, both producers from downstream industries and spot traders said that most plants have no goods for selling in this month.

TDI Price Change in SE Asia and India

According to PUdaily, the following are the reasons to the significant increase in foreign TDI price of October:

1、The TDI facility of 150 kt/year of Hanwha Group of South Korea will undergo maintenance from Oct. 12, that means 42% of TDI capacity in South Korea is shut down this month. Additionally, Hanwha has sold out theOctober shipment.

2、The OCI of South Korea plans to launch a maintenance lasting for half of a month in early November, and the cargo of October has been sold out.

3、BASF TDI facility in South Korea is due to undergo 1-month maintenance from November perhaps because of some left problems caused by the premature start after the maintenance of June.

In addition to the above factors pushing forward TDI market, because of the malfunction in European nitric acid supplier of Covestro which seriously affects the product supply of Covestro in Europe, the company has to announce force majeure on TDI, MDI and other intermediates in Europe Oct. 6. This news ignites the domestic and foreign TDI market which continues increasing before this period.

Covestro TDI plant of 300 kt/year of Germany mainly supplies Europe, Middle-east and Africa. It is expected that Covestro Shanghai plant will transfer some goods to these areas, which will drive China market. For foreign TDI market, it is easy for TDI price to hit USD 3,000/ton, may be the force majeure from Covestro is just the beginning of the increase in TDI for this round. (1$=CNY 6.67)