A three-month old arbitrage window to export Asian butadiene to the US that had been slowly closing earlier this month has widened again this week and as a result producers and traders have been heard trying to arrange for butadiene cargoes in large volumes of 3,000-5,000 mt in Asia for US shipment.
Asian butadiene prices on Friday were down $50/mt from April 17 at $1,250/mt CFR China and $1,250/mt CFR Taiwan on low demand. The FOB Korea marker was $45/mt lower at $1,355/mt, while the CFR Southeast Asia marker fell $30/mt to $1,210/mt over the same period.
In the US, butadiene prices were assessed Friday up 1 cent/lb week on week at 80 cents/lb, or $1,764/mt on a CIF basis. Platts last assessed freight for a 5,000 mt butadiene cargo from North Asia to Europe at $350-360/mt.
Considering the current prevailing markets, a trader selling a South Korean origin butadiene cargo to the US would still make a margin of about $60/mt.