Sulphates

Release time：2020-06-05

Amsul markets have come under pressure following an increase in Chinese production rates. Prices have declined to below $90pt fob in some cases for standard capro amsul. Meanwhile, Brazilian compacted and granular amsul prices continue to be under pressure

due to ample supply from China, low freight rates and low Chinese fob levels.

China: Prices have come under significant supply pressure. According to local reports, the average caprolactam production rate increased by a sharp 7% to 82% of capacity. The extra availability along with few sales in recent weeks where production was at around
70% of capacity have hit standard capro amsul values this week. Offers between different producers have diverged with some unwilling to accept below $90pt fob while others are openly offering at $89pt fob with buyers expecting to be able to achieve slightly lower.
Compacted amsul prices are reported to be around $120pt fob for container business but compacted and granular values are expected to come under price pressure in the near term. Combined amsul inventory at the seaports is reportedat 410-420,000t with 170,000t 

at Tianjin and 80,000t at Nanjing.
Indonesia: Gresik tendered for 200,000t of standard capro amsul for 2020. The lowest price is reported to be $9.26pt below the SE Asia average price. Brio is reported to have received an award for 80,000t with two other companies receiving awards for 60,000t each.
Turkey: Market activity remains muted with imports significantly lagging year on year. January-April amsul imports were only 175,000t, down from 382,000t over the same period in 2019. South Korea supplied 67,000t while another 66,000t arrived from the USA. 29,000t
were supplied from Belgium. All the product from Belgium arrived in April and accounted for the bulk of the 34,000t of imports that month.
Central America: Incofe is in the market for a combination of products including up to 25,000t of standard capro amsul and 15,000t of NPs along with smaller quantities of other products for 1-10 July shipment to Quetzal, Acajutla, La Union and potentiallyCorinto. Given 

the products involved, supply will most likely be from China.
Brazil: Compacted and granular amsul prices continue to be under pressure. This due to low freight rates of sub-$15pt from China allowing traders to maintain profit while decreasing prices as well as lower fob levels in China. Chinese compacted amsul is now understood to
be offered in the low-$140s pt cfr. Owning to the more limited availability of standard capro amsul, cfr levels in Brazil remain stable for now. However, these too are likely to face downward pressure amid the Chinese declines