According to Dow Jones, London, April 11, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday that global oil production declined significantly in March as a result of OPEC-led production cuts, helping to boost crude oil prices to a five-month high.

In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said global oil production fell by 340,000 barrels a day in March to 99.2 million barrels a day from a year earlier. Compared with last November’s high, it decreased by 3.1 million barrels per day, but still increased by 530,000 barrels per day.

On April 9, the PX commodity index was 67.20, unchanged from yesterday, down 34.38% from the peak of 102.40 points in the cycle (2013-02-28), and up 47.53% from the low of 45.55 points on February 15, 2016. (Note: Period refers to 2013-02-01 to date).

Recently, the domestic market price trend of p-xylene has been temporarily stable. Pengzhou Petrochemical Plant has been running steadily in the field. Urumqi Petrochemical Plant has started 50% of its operation. Fuhai Aromatic Hydrocarbon Plant has started a line. CNOOC Huizhou Refinery and Chemical Plant has been overhauled. Hengli Petrochemical PX Plant has been put into operation. Other units have been running steadily for the time being. Due to the increase of domestic market supply of p-xylene, the market for p-xylene has increased. Price trend is stable for the time being. The opening rate of PX plant in Asia is about 80%. On April 9, the closing price of p-xylene in Asia increased by 3 US dollars/ton. The closing price is US$1036-1038/ton FOB in Korea and US$1055-1057/ton CFR in China. More than 50% of the domestic units need to be imported. The rise of foreign prices has a positive impact on the domestic market price of p-xylene. The price trend of p-xylene in the market is temporarily stable.

On April 9, the price of WTI crude oil in May fell to $63.98 per barrel, a decline of $0.42. Brent crude oil in June fell to $70.61 per barrel, a decline of $0.49. The fluctuation of crude oil price has supported the price of downstream petrochemical products, while the price of p-xylene market has temporarily stabilized. Recent textile industry market shocks, PTA price trend shocks on the 10th day, the average price of East China bid is around 6850-7000 yuan/ton, the domestic PTA start-up rate is about 80%, polyester industry start-up rate is about 90%, downstream production and sales rate remains high, but PTA market price changes little, it is expected that PX market prices will remain stable in the later period.

On the sidelines of the Mexican Plastic Rubber Industry Exhibition in 2019, sources said that Central and South America had received a large number of offers for PVC from vendors in Asia, Mexico and the United States.

Long-term global supply of PVC has led suppliers to sell their products at a reduced price of $5-15 per ton per week for the past six weeks as overseas sellers try to win the competition.

Taiwan Plastics announced a price cut of $40-60 per ton in April, and other Asian suppliers followed suit in order to avoid losing market share.

In March and early April, slowing domestic sales in Mexico boosted exports to Central and South America. FOB Mexico’s export quotation hovered between $765 and $780 per ton.

In January and February this year, US raw material data weakened and domestic sales declined, resulting in adequate supply and increased low-price exports to Latin America.

The latest FOB quotation in the Gulf of Mexico this week was $755 per ton, while CFR Latin America quoted about $820 per ton, depending on distance.

Unipar Indupa, Braskem, Unipar carbcloro, Mexichem and Peevan are Latin American producers of PVCs.

According to preliminary statistics from the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, Russia’s coal export volume in January-March 2019 was 44.0283 million tons, down 0.64% from 44.3099 million tons in the same period in 2018.

In March, Russia’s coal export volume was 15.451 million tons, down 0.49% from 15.527 million tons in the same period in 2018 and up 10.29% from 14.49 million tons in February.

From January to March, Russia’s coal output was 108 million tons, up 2.58% from 105 million tons in the same period in 2018.

In March, Russia’s coal output was 36.793 million tons, an increase of 1.3% from 36.3269 million tons in the same period in 2018 and 5.42% from 34.9089 million tons in February.

In the early morning of the 3rd Beijing time, crude oil futures prices hit a new high of 2019 on Tuesday, with Brent crude oil approaching the $70 threshold. Iran will face more sanctions and the prospect of Venezuelan crude oil production being disrupted, which strengthens the effect of OPEC’s action to reduce production on oil prices.

Brent crude oil futures rose 41 cents, or 0.6%, to $69.42, the highest level since November 13.

WTI crude oil futures rose 99 cents, or 1.6%, to close at $62.58, the highest level since November 7.

Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said: “Today’s WTI crude oil and Brent crude oil have reached new highs in more than a month. Oil prices have risen more than we expected. Oil prices are bullish. Although we still maintain the price target of $62 for WTI crude oil, we cautiously advise investors not to cash in prematurely in view of the sudden momentum of recent oil price increases.

A U.S. official said the United States was considering more sanctions against Iran. Iran is the fourth largest oil producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, an oil producer also subject to U.S. sanctions, a crude oil terminal was suspended due to power failure.

The disruption of crude oil supplies in Iran and Venezuela further strengthens the effect of OPEC-led production cuts. According to a Reuters survey, OPEC’s crude oil production fell to its lowest level in four years in March this year, mainly due to non-active production cuts and the fact that Saudi Arabia, the organization’s largest oil producer, has cut its output more than expected.