Chemical News : The Asian toluene market took a breather Wednesday, following two consecutive sessions of gains.



** Chemical News.
- Toluene stable after rallying earlier
- Demand in India stays firm
The Asian toluene market took a breather Wednesday, following two consecutive sessions of gains.
FOB Korea stood at $687/mt on Wednesday's Asian close, unchanged on the day, but was still at the highest point in nearly three months (Chemical News).
In the wider backdrop, key crude and naphtha prices barely changed. At 0830 GMT Wednesday, February ICE Brent crude futures was at $64.12/barrel, up 3 cents/b from Wednesday.
In India, supply streaming from Iran was described to be uncertain, one trader said, and that kept trading sentiments in both Kandla and Mumbai upbeat.
Discussions for toluene cargoes in India were heard to be around high $70s/mt premiums to FOB Korea marker, the same trader said. Gasoline-blending trend in India had equally resurfaced, the trader added.
However, what had been supporting India and the rest of the Northeast Asia region off late, was missing out in China (Chemical News).
Buying interest within China for spot toluene was less promising, as there were more isomer mixed xylenes absorbed domestically by gasoline blenders.
Local market sources further added that the stable momentum would potentially slow further in the next month, as China's Lunar New Year commences in late January.
China's domestic market slipped further to rest at Yuan 5,625/mt Wednesday, or around $680.90/mt on an import-parity basis.
In other news, Malaysia's Lotte Chemical Titan has scheduled a maintenance program for its No.2 catalytic cracker starting March next year. The turnaround program would take the 650,000 mt/year No. 2 catalytic cracker offline for approximately 45 days, and the cracker is expected to be back online by April (Chemical News).
Lotte Chemical Titan has an aromatics plant, or a benzene-toluene-xylene unit, with a capacity to produce around 60,000-70,000 mt/year of toluene, 40,000 mt/year of xylenes, and 150,000 mt/year of benzene. Pygas retrieved from the two upstream crackers is typically used as a feedstock for the BTX unit. During the maintenance, the 430,000 mt/year No.1 naphtha-fed cracker will continue to operate as per normal.


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