SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack rose on Monday to hit a near one month high of $73.05 a tonne on firm demand, while East-bound cargoes arriving next month from Europe, the Mediterranean and the United States were not as high as expected.
South Korea's LG Chem was looking to buy naphtha but the results were not clear.
Lotte Chemical had paid a discount of about $1 a tonne to Japan quotes on a cost-and-freight on Friday for naphtha scheduled for first-half October arrival at Yeosu.
This was higher versus a discount of about $3 YNCC had paid on Thursday.
East-bound cargoes for September arrival were seen close to 1 million tonnes so far, below the 1.4 million tonnes which industry sources had earlier anticipated.
Asia's gasoline crack eased to a two-session low of $2.99 a barrel. China shipped out 1.12 million tonnes of gasoline in July, official data showed, close to the forecast of 1.1 to 1.2 million tonnes by a trade source and analysts.
The Chinese July exports were 47% higher versus June.