Be Sluggish in Q1 Was Expected by European Toluene Trends

European Toluene market had dull sentiments in the earlier days of this month. Upstream product prices remained unstable and market experts predicted sluggish downstream demand for the first quarter of the current year.
 
However, prices went up slightly in the week ending January 12, 2013 and were assessed in the range of US$ 1295-1310/ton FOB Rotterdam due to higher upstream product prices and tight supply conditions. This represents 1% w-o-w increase.
 
Contract prices for the month of January were settled at US$ 1290-1325/ton FOB NWE due to uncertain market conditions.
 
Prices in Asia and US declined in the last week due to weak market sentiments and demand. Speculators assessed the spot prices of Toluene in the range of US$ 1320-1365/ton FOB Korea and US$ 1360-1390/ton CFR Japan in Korea and Japan respectively. In US, prices were in the range of 415-440 (cents/gallon) FOB US.