OREANDA-NEWS.  October 16, 2014. Imported and domestically produced LPG prices in East China rose for the fifth week in a row this week, by Yuan 120-170/mt (USD19.50-27.64/mt) from the week before, as supply continued to remain tight amid ongoing maintenance outages at local refineries, domestic trade sources said.

Domestically produced LPG was heard traded at Yuan 6,300-6,400/mt in East China Friday, up Yuan 170/mt from Yuan 6,130-6,230/mt the week before.

Prices have been rising steadily for five weeks, and are up a total of around Yuan 675/mt or 12% from Yuan 5,675/mt on August 22, Platts price monitoring showed.

Traders attributed the supply tightness to refinery maintenance programs.

"Two of the five major refineries in East China have suspended LPG supply, cutting around 2,000 mt/day of LPG to the market, which is believed to have strongly supported the LPG price in the region recently," a local trade source said.

Sinopec's 9.5 million mt/year Yangzi refinery in East China's Jiangsu province has its old aromatics unit down for maintenance, leaving it with little supply for the domestic market, a source close to the refinery said.

"Sinopec Yangzi only had around 100-200 mt/day of LPG supply to the market early this week [and] suspended supply on Thursday and Friday," the source said, adding the company usually supplies around 1,000 mt/day.

It was not known when the company would resume normal supply levels, and all output from its other, newer aromatics unit was consumed captively, the source said.

Sinopec's 13 million mt/year Gaoqiao refinery in Shanghai is also still undergoing full scheduled maintenance and will have no LPG to supply to the local market until November, Platts reported earlier.

That refinery also usually supplies around 1,000 mt/day of LPG to the local market, traders said.

The three other major suppliers in the region -- Sinopec's Jinshan, Jinling and Zhenhai refineries -- were said to have sold domestically produced LPG at around Yuan 6,300/mt, Yuan 6,395/mt and Yuan 6,300-6,350/mt, respectively, Friday, up Yuan 150-200/mt from the week before.

Imported LPG was also trading at higher prices, tracking domestic prices higher despite fresh cargo arrivals in the region this week, traders said.

Propane-rich imported LPG was said have traded at Yuan 6,300-6,400/mt in East China Friday, up around Yuan 120/mt from Yuan 6,180-6,280/mt last week.

Two major LPG importers, China Gas and Oriental Energy, were said to have received or be expecting LPG import cargoes this week.

"China Gas received a 30,000-40,000 mt imported cargo late this week, while Oriental Energy is expecting around 40,000 mt at the weekend, making total LPG imports around 70,000-80,000 mt this week," a local trade source said, adding no imports were seen last week.

"The LPG price in East China may stay firm in the near future," the source added.

SOUTH CHINA PRICE RISES LATE WEEK AS TERMINAL PRESSURE EASES

LPG prices also rose Yuan 100-130/mt in South China this week.

Local traders said prices fell early week when some terminals faced discharging pressure before rebounding once unloading was completed late week.

"Zhuhai New Ocean sold its imported LPG at Yuan 5,800/mt early this week as the terminal had discharging pressure... but raised its price to Yuan 5,900-6,000/mt later in the week after the vessel left," a local trader said.

The terminal received 22,000 mt of imported LPG early this week, according to local traders.

Zhuhai New Ocean's price hike spurred other LPG terminals and refineries to lift their prices late week, local traders said.

"Many LPG import terminals raised their price to Yuan 6,000-6,100/mt Friday, but the actual trading price is estimated to be around Yuan 6,000-6,050/mt," another local trader said.

"Many refineries including Sinopec Guangzhou, Maoming and Zhanjiang and CNOOC Huizhou increased their prices for domestically produced LPG to around Yuan 6,020-6,050/mt Friday," the source added.

Propane-rich imported LPG was heard to have traded at Yuan 6,000-6,050/mt in Guangdong province late Friday, up Yuan 100/mt from trades at Yuan 5,900-5,950/mt the week before.

Domestically produced LPG was heard to have traded at Yuan 5,950-6,050/mt, up Yuan 130/mt over the same period.