CIF import price index of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)

According to China's comprehensive CIF import price index of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) released by the Global Trade Monitoring and Analysis Center of the General Administration of Customs and the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Trading Center, from December 5th to 11th, 2022, China's comprehensive CIF import price index of liquefied propane was 140.09, down 0.16% month on month and 3.15% year on year; China's comprehensive CIF import price index of liquefied butane was 136.31, up 5.42% month on month and down 2.22% year on year

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In terms of international pricing benchmark, Saudi Aramco announced that the contract price (CP) of propane in December was 650 US dollars/ton, up 40 US dollars/ton from last month, up 6.56% month on month, and down 18.24% from the same period last year; The contract price (CP) of butane in December was US $650/ton, an increase of US $40/ton compared with the previous month, an increase of 6.56% month on month and a decrease of 13.33% compared with the same period last year. In December, Saudi Arabia's CP stopped falling and turned up, which may boost the domestic and foreign LPG market prices.

In terms of international price, the positive correlation between LPG international price and crude oil price is high. Last week, international oil prices fell sharply. As of last Friday (December 9th), the settlement prices of the main contracts of WTI and Brent crude oil futures were US $71.02/barrel and US $76.10/barrel respectively, down 11.20% and 11.07% respectively from the previous week. The international oil price has continued to decline recently, which may weaken the current domestic and foreign LPG market price level to some extent. Due to the trade process, the CIF price of LPG imports in China is often behind the futures price and spot price in the international market for a period of time. The impact of recent fluctuations in the price of LPG outside the market will gradually appear in the later CIF price of LPG imports.

In domestic market, the supply side is tight, the demand side is weak, and the market trading atmosphere is light. On the supply side, the actual arrival of domestic imported LPG last week was in line with expectations, and the resources of inbound shipments were mainly concentrated in Shandong; The domestic gas volume mainly comes from local refineries. The LPG output in the week decreased compared with the previous week. On the whole, the total domestic LPG supply in the week decreased compared with the previous week. On the demand side, the temperature has dropped significantly in the near future, and the demand for civil fuel has risen as a whole; However, the industrial demand has declined. Specifically, in the propane deep processing field, the operating rate of PDH unit has declined compared with the previous week, and the demand for propane chemical industry has declined steadily; In the butane deep processing field, the MTBE operating rate fell compared with the previous week, and the alkylation unit operating rate rose compared with the previous week, and the butane chemical demand remained flat.