Chinese China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), Asia’s largest oil refining company, announced on April 4 an increase in the price of low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE) blow molds for the southern region of China by 200 yuan (CNY) or USD32 per ton, ICIS source in the company said.

Thus, from April 3 Sinopec set the prices of blown HDPE at CNY10,450 per tonne (USD1,664 per tonne), EXW, for this region. On Monday, April 2, the company raised the prices of blown HDPE by CNY150 per tonne.

End users began to increase purchases due to the fact that last week prices fell to an eight-month low, while the company’s factory in Maoming stopped production of this brand. Sinopec has already sold stocks of blown HDPE, said a trader in the south of China.

The spot prices of blown HDPE in China are CNY10,400 per tonne, which is CNY50 higher than the previous day and 6.4% higher compared to the prices at the end of March.

According to the Price Review of ICIS-MRC, last week the price situation in the market of blown HDPE in Russia was stable, Russian producers prolonged the March prices for deliveries in April. In this segment, supply and demand are balanced in the last few months.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the world’s largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. By the volume of oil processing capacities of Sinopec Corp. occupies the second place in the world, the volume of ethylene capacity – the fourth.