Asia’s naphtha margin declined about 29% to about $75 per metric ton this week after new U.S. import tariffs triggered fears about destruction of feedstock demand from petrochemical units.

The price of second-half May naphtha tanked about 11% this week to $587 per metric ton on Friday. The backwardation between second-half May and second-half June naphtha prices narrowed to $5 per ton on Friday from around $12 last week.

Sweeping new U.S. import tariffs threaten to further erode demand for global petrochemical producers and accelerate capacity cuts in an industry plagued by weak margins, industry officials and analysts said.

Meanwhile, naphtha stocks at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub jumped nearly 22% to 516,000 tons in the week to April 3 on higher gasoline blending activity, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

NEWS

– Japan’s ruling coalition agreed on Friday to curb gasoline prices to help cushion households against wider economic pain stemming from U.S. tariffs, while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba scrambles to speak with President Donald Trump.

– Oil prices were heading towards their lowest close since the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 on Friday, hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s barrage of new tariffs and output increases announced by the OPEC+ producer group.

– Russia’s Defence Ministry on Friday accused Ukraine of attacking Russian energy facilities six times in the past 24 hours despite a U.S.-brokered moratorium on striking each other’s energy infrastructure, Russian news agencies reported.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS

Two gasoline trade, one naphtha deal.
Source: Reuters