Viscose or rayon fibre prices appear bottoming out in in China
Viscose or rayon staple fibre markets in China apparently stabilized in the last week of March 2019 as high-end fibre producers lowered their offers to acceptable levels of downstream buyers. Thus, firm deals improved somewhat. Does this mean that prices have bottomed out after many weeks of sluggish performance? Many mills have reportedly started restocking after medium-end producers finished their monthly settlement rounds. Prices are learnt to have kept rising later. In Pakistan, offers rolled over from overseas producers while in India, local producers did not change their offers as exports were seen improving in February but at lower prices.
Viscose filament yarn (VFY) prices were largely stable in China and India, but weak currencies pegged numbers down in US$ terms. In China, producers reported stable liquidity, and they mostly tried to conclude deals at previous prices at the moment. In India, VFY prices remained unmoved as export markets was still sluggish while domestic demand was stagnant at the moment. Export of viscose filament was seen rebounding in February as export prices were reduced slightly. Realisation averaged US$4.05 a kg as against US$4.22 a kg a year ago.
Viscose spun yarn prices went soft across China, India and Pakistan, mainly reflecting the earlier declines in VSF prices. In China, offers and discussions dropped amid slow liquidity and dropping cost. In Pakistan, viscose yarn prices fell for the fourth week and have lost close to 5% during March. In India, viscose yarn prices rolled over for the fourth straight week in Tirupur market while they moderated for the third week in Ludhiana. However, export price realisation was seen tumbling in February compared to previous month and also from same month last year. Realisation in February averaged US$3.34 a kg, down US cents 7 from previous month and US$10 down from a year ago level.
Excerpts from Global Markets Weekly Review report and Fibre to Yarn Export Statistics – India report
