Podcast - China LPG market weekly take-away: prices keep rising as supply tightens.

China's national LPG benchmark rose 4.46% week on week to 5,993 yuan per tonne, while ether-post C4 climbed 4.74%. Tight regional balances, lower refinery output and a sharp drop in vessel arrivals kept prices grinding higher, even as burning-end demand remained weak and downstream buyers became more cautious after the recent price run-up.

Key takeaways:

• Commodity output edged down 0.47% to around 425,800 tonnes, while vessel arrivals fell 44.16% to 614,000 tonnes as Typhoon Hongxia disrupted shipments into South China and Fujian.
• Chemical demand expanded as propane- and butane-based chemical consumption increased, while PDH operating rates rose 1.34 percentage points to 72.76%.
• Burning-end demand remained weak, with the sales-to-output ratio falling 3 percentage points to 99% as buyers purchased more cautiously at elevated prices.
• Producer inventory ratios increased to 23.47%, while port inventories fell 1.71% to 2.482 million tonnes as lower arrivals temporarily lagged steady chemical offtake.
• Prices are expected to remain firm in the near term, but recovering vessel arrivals, higher inventories and weak burning-end demand may bring renewed downside risk.

For the full analysis and data behind today's discussion, contact us at inquiries@mysteel.com for a trial read of the latest China LPG Market Weekly Report by Mysteel OilChem.