Price series brings new regional transparency to reflect rising trade to China
Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus has launched the Argus Naphtha Northeast Asia (ANNA) daily price assessment, reflecting growing Chinese demand for the petrochemical feedstock.
Surging Chinese petrochemical production capacity is driving a sharp rise in naphtha imports, which have grown 160% since 2017 to 1.3mn t/month this year. Meanwhile, other major markets in the region – Japan and South Korea – are seeing imports wane.
But the strong growth in Chinese imports has not been well represented in regional pricing. Existing price benchmarks reflect activity in Japan and South Korea, excluding Chinese transactions.
The ANNA assessment is an outright price for cargoes of 25,000t, delivered 30-45 days ahead. Based at Yeosu, South Korea, the index will include not only trades across South Korea and Japan, but also Chinese delivered cargoes.
Argus petrochemical feedstock prices are already used extensively as benchmarks in Asia-Pacific markets. Many companies operating cracking facilities have chosen to link the price of their imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the Argus Far East Index (AFEI) benchmark. Indian state-run oil companies have adopted the Argus Mideast Gulf spot naphtha assessment in their pricing baskets.
Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “We are pleased to bring new price transparency to northeast Asia naphtha markets, especially because of the growing importance of Chinese imports. The ANNA price complements Argus’ existing suite of global feedstock and petrochemical assessments and gives market participants a much more accurate and representative view of what’s happening between Japan, South Korea and China.”
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