PTA market seems to be more hit by downstream polyester production cuts than PX

PTA market seems to be more hit by downstream polyester production cuts than PX. The margins of PX and PTA have been diverged since Apr. As of Apr 22, PX-naphtha spread has widened by 9.3% from Apr 1 to $295/mt, while PTA-0.66*PX spread narrowed by 16% to 413yuan/mt over the same period.

As the chart shown below, when polyester plant operating rate decreases obviously, PTA-0.66*PX spread squeezes with PTA consumption reducing, while PX margin is cushioned by PTA and thus not so closely related to polyester production cuts