LONDON, December 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

(ICIS)--European benzene December and January spot prices spiked 15-18% on Thursday morning amid a flurry of overnight deals.

Several January deals were reported by buyers at $700-725/tonne CIF (cost, insurance and freight) ARA (Amsterdam, Antwerp, Rotterdam), while a December deal was reported at $690/tonne CIF ARA.

Offers continued to firm in the morning session with December rising to $690-740/tonne CIF ARA, and January at $700-740/tonne CIF ARA.

At 17:00 GMT yesterday, benzene December was trading at $600-630/tonne CIF ARA  and January was at $600-620/tonne CIF ARA. This represents a 17-19% rise.

The increase was driven by rising crude oil prices, talk of production problems at a major European producer - although this could not be immediately confirmed - and US benzene markets opening firmer.

"I think crude could be a reason, US opened stronger, some rumours of production problems. People thought it could be the turnaround," a buyer said.

As a result, a flurry of industry buying activity took place, creating a spike in prices. Nevertheless, spot prices still remain well below the December contract price, which was $960/tonne FOB (free on board) NWE (northwest Europe).

Bids and offers for December edged back down to $675-710/tonne CIF ARA by Thursday afternoon, while January remained in contango at $690-725/tonne CIF ARA. Despite an initial upturn earlier in the day amid talk of a production issue at one major European supplier, the overall outlook for the coming weeks into January 2015 remains bearish, although there is a sense that the market may have reached a floor in the low $700s/tonne.

Further information about ICIS can be found at http://www.icis.com

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Mumbai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. Some 350 of ICIS's staff are journalists engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication.  ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles. 

About Reed Business Information

At Reed Business Information we provide information and online data services to business professionals worldwide. Customers have access to our high-value industry data, analytics, information and tools. Our strong global brands hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading global provider of data, information and solutions for professional customers.

About Reed Elsevier  

Reed Elsevier is a world leading provider of information solutions for professionals. We help scientists make new discoveries, lawyers win cases, doctors save lives, corporations build commercial relationships, insurance companies assess risk, and government and financial institutions detect fraud.

For further information about this release, please contact:

Kirsty Fleck
Senior Marketing Manager, ICIS
Email: kirsty.fleck@icis.com 
Direct: +44(0)207-911-1407
Mobile: +44(0)7799-658-419

SOURCE ICIS