SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack edged up 0.8 percent on Friday to $72.30 a tonne, the highest since Feb. 16, with firm demand seen this week though ample supplies kept a lid on spot prices.
South Korea's LG Chem was seeking a cargo for first-half April delivery but the results were not known.
In the first four days of the week, South Korea and Taiwan purchased between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes of naphtha for first-half April delivery through tenders.
"Demand is good. Everyone had believed that first-half April prices could be strong as a result but in reality, this is not the case," said a North Asian trader.
"Hopefully naphtha will improve along with summer gasoline demand even though gasoline inventories are currently high," the trader said.
Supplies are ample as Asia has been unable to digest all the cargoes that came in from the West, including Europe, since the start of the year.
The weak fundamentals have battered spot prices despite a stream of demand from buyers.
India's Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd (MRPL) for instance sold 35,00 tonnes of naphtha for March 25-27 loading from New Mangalore to Shell at a premium of $4.50 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, traders said.
This was the lowest premium fetched for MRPL since late 2014 and it was also the first purchase of an Indian cargo by Shell in many months.
GASOLINE CONTINUES UPWARDS
Asia's gasoline crack rose to a three-week high of $9.39 a barrel, with expectations of high stocks easing as Taiwan's Formosa and CPC are both shutting a gasoline-making unit in March.
But CPC came forward with a sales tender for 30,000 tonnes of 92-octane and 9,000 tonnes of reformates for April loading through a tender closing on March 1.
SINGAPORE CASH DEALS: Shell bought a 95-octane grade gasoline cargo from PTT for March 16-20 loading at $48 and a 92-octane grade cargo, also for March 16-20, but from Socar at $45.35 a barrel.
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