Asia’s high sulphur fuel oil market softened on Monday, with cash premiums sliding and backwardation time spreads narrowing sharply compared to last week.
A flurry of spot offers emerged for 380-cst HSFO, but these met with no buying interest.
The cash premium for 380-cst HSFO FO380-SIN-DIF fell to $3.90 a metric ton on Monday.
Market backwardation also eased, with the October/November timespread narrowing to about $7.25 a ton at the Asia close, compared with about $12 last week.
The November crack for 380-cst HSFO slipped to a discount of $14.46 a barrel, hitting a six-month low. HSFO remains under downward pressure as seasonal demand from the Middle East starts tapering off and importing activity from China retreated in recent months.
Meanwhile, the 0.5% very low sulphur fuel oil market firmed. Cash premium MFO05-SIN-DIF rose to $16.55 a metric ton on Monday, while November crack LFO05SGDUBCMc1 climbed to a premium of $9.08 a barrel on Monday.
In tenders, India’s Reliance offered 40,000 tons of carbon black feedstock for loading between Oct. 21 and 22. The tender closes on Monday.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
