Asia's naphtha falls on massive exports from China

Asia's naphtha crack fell to a four-session low of $85.23 a tonne while gasoline hit a 1-1/2 month low of $6.13 a barrel, dragged down by massive exports from China. Singapore's onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and gasoline blending components, hit a six-week high of 11.03 million barrels as large volumes of petrol arrived from China in the week to October 23, official data showed.

More than 326,000 tonnes of gasoline arrived in the week to Wednesday, the largest weekly quantity to arrive from China since the week of August 15-21, Enterprise Singapore data showed. China's total September exports of 1.67 million tonnes were only slightly below the record high of almost 1.7 million tonnes in March last year. South Korea's YNCC and Hanwha Total emerged on Thursday to buy cargoes for delivery in the first half of December.

YNCC paid premiums of about $27 a tonne to Japan quotes cost and freight (C&F) for open-specification grade, while Hanwha Total paid premiums of $30 a tonne to Japan quotes C&F for heavy full-range grade. India's MRPL sold to Total 25,000 tonnes of 92-octane grade gasoline late on Wednesday for Nov. 18-20 loading from New Mangalore at premiums of about $2.65-$2.75 a barrel to Middle East quotes.

It had previously sold a cargo for October 21-23 loading to BB Energy at a premium of less than $1. China's CNOOC sold 10,000 tonnes of 92-octane grade gasoline for Nov. 9-13 loading from Basuo terminal at premiums of about $2.65 a barrel to Singapore quotes free on board (FOB). CNOOC had also sold 37,000-39,000 tonnes for Nov. 20-21 loading from Dagang terminal at premiums of about 50 cents a barrel to Singapore FOB quotes.