Benzene production margins in Europe have sunk to their lowest level in the past six months following a continuous drop in spot benzene prices over the last four weeks, Platts data showed.
Benzene's premium to naphtha dropped to $353.25/mt Wednesday. The last time it was lower was November 26, when it was $308.25/mt.
The spot benzene price was assessed last at $1,304/mt CIF ARA, down $20.50/mt on the day. Thus since the end of April, when the market set on a downward trend, benzene prices have dropped by 10.7%, as spot demand fell amid benzene fixtures from Americas and Asia.
Meanwhile, the price of naphtha is rising cautiously, with CIF cargoes last assessed at $950.75/mt.
So far this year the premium of benzene over naphtha has averaged $485/mt, due to the extreme tightness of Atlantic benzene supplies seen at the start of the year. The highest the premium climbed to this year was $636.75/mt on January 16.
Normally a premium of $250/mt is sufficient to cover production costs.
