Spot futures are still gravitating towards the 75 cents level and for the past eight sessions the March contract has settled within a very narrow band of less than 100 points, between 74.79 and 75.71 cents/lb. There have been a few intraday spikes up and down, but last Friday’s selloff below 74 cents found ready buyers, while attempts to propel the market beyond the crucial 78 cents resistance area have so far lacked the necessary momentum. The current level of NY futures actually makes s

Some 30% of small and medium industries (SMIs) in the country will not increase the salary of employees earning a basic pay of RM900 and above this year to minimise the impact of the minimum wage policy, which came into force on Jan 1, Sin Chew Daily reported yesterday. It said 70% of these SMIs are in the manufacturing sector. According to a survey conducted by SMI Association of Malaysia, for the rest of SMIs planning to increase the pay of their workers across the board, about 60% will

China Textile City Fabric Market (2013-01-11)Unit: yuan/m Collector: Jiang Jianren Item WidthCM Specification/Weight（meter） Wholesale Price：yuan/meter Wool/Viscose gird cloth 150 560 25．50 Wool/viscose cloth 150 520 27．50 Cotton Pad-dyed Drill 150 16S×12S 108×56 15．30 T/R single-thread yarn dyed seven-color checked woolen cloth 150 500 16．00 Wool/Viscose mix-colored s

The developments in Chinese cotton policy that has the rest of the world worrying about cotton prices, and for the moment these concerns appear to have put a floor under cotton prices. Unless the pace of China’s cotton purchases slows, cotton availability outside China could well be tight in the run up to the next harvest. And then thoughts turn to the harvest after that, 2013/14. Although still very speculative since no planting has taken place, price differentials with other crops suggest glob

n Europe, initial benzene contract price for January has been agreed up Euro 69 a ton from the previous month. Benzene prices are expected to remain bullish in Europe and rise higher in the US. Market experts predict that Benzene prices may remain high this year in the US as well due to tight supply conditions. Prices witnessed a 4% increase in the US market in December 2012 as compared to its previous month. Caprolactum prices in January are likely to inch up in the European markets after jum

Japan’s JX Nippon Oil and Energy sought to nominate January Asian contract price for benzene at US$1,550 a ton, up US$120 from December. Since September, crude oil prices have fallen by 4%, causing naphtha prices to decline 4-12%. Concurrently benzene prices have increased 6-21%, leaving producers with a gross margin of about 35-55%. While such margins are common in speciality products, they are not common in bulk petrochemicals and are usually corrected by market forces. This can start happenin

US MEG prices are expected to rise in January after producers began announcing increase over December prices. In Europe, January MEG numbers were discussed at an increase of Euro 30-40 a ton over December values. In US main producers of fibre chips have already announced a US cents 4 per pound increase for January based on paraxylene increases in the Asian spot market. And the same applies to polyester textile filament where there is some optimism that overall demand in Q1 could firm up. But i

Asian MEG nominations for January were set by three main suppliers to Asia at US$1,220-1,240 a ton CFR, up on December nominations of US$1,200-1,220 a ton. Sinopec nominated its January MEG Asian contract price at US$1,220/ton, a rollover from December. MEGlobal announced its Asian MEG contract nomination for January 2013 at US$1,240, up by US$40 on the month. SABIC nominated its January MEG contract price for Asian in 2013 at US$1,220 a ton, a rollover from December. Sinopec announced January c

Textile industry in Punjab is yet not getting 16 hours a day uninterrupted power supply despite clear-cut instructions from Prime Minister. According to industry sources, there was heavy fluctuation in power supply to the textile mills in Punjab, causing losses to the production units. It may be noted that the Prime Minister had intervened last Monday, directing the Ministry of Water and Power to avoid a complete shutdown to the textile industry in Punjab and ensure 16 hours a day uninterrupte