Spot European benzene prices were marginally lower Friday morning tracking small losses in the crude futures market, while nervous sentiment was also impacting the market, sources said.
Both April and May were heard at a bid/offer range of $1,275-1,290/mt for 1,000 metric ton CIF ARA barges. Even with one trader indicating that bids "would go to $1,280/mt," the offer levels suggested a fall in the April market, which was valued at $1,292/mt at close Thursday.
A backwardation of $5/mt was still seen between April and May, according to one source who added: "There are more offers for May and more bids for April."
One source noted that the market was "balanced," adding that any activity was "mostly trade looking to sell and play it short."
The same source added that the upcoming restarts of two major Netherlands located crackers -- Dow's at Terneuzen and SABIC's at Geleen -- had brought some "nervousness" into the market.
Sources at both Dow and SABIC have said that the current shutdowns are still "on track" with no delays expected for restart. Geleen is expected to restart April 20 and Terneuzen April 26.
A producer added that the current strong prices of crude and naphtha were also a cause for concern to industry players, despite recent views on increasing demand in the region.
The producer still supported that view: "There is very strong demand now though and I don't see any sign of it getting reduced."
He added however: "There is some bullishness, but there are also some people anxiously looking at crude talking about the 'big hit' that could come. Some people are very cautious and it's made the market thin."
Despite this morning's fall prices have risen nearly $100/mt since falling to a 2011 low of $1,197.50/mt on March 29.
One trader felt that European prices would push up further, "towards $1,300/mt." The trader added: "If some traders hadn't gone so long we'd have never seen prices go down to $1,200/mt."
"It was only a matter of time [before prices began to climb again]. The US is back stronger and Asia is improving week to week," the trader said.
