Asphalt: Asia-Pacific market commentary

: Oil products
07/09/03

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Singapore
A lack of market activity meant that prices remain stable in the week ending 31 August at $270-310/t fob. Truck deliveries to Malaysia have slowed down because of greater availability of domestic supplies and wet weather in some parts.

Offers on the market continue to be in the range of $300-310/t fob and are being made to potential buyers in southeast Asia as Chinese demand continues to be poor.

Limited stocks for September by some suppliers continue to keep export levels low. Expectations of improved production capacity in October could dampen prices but producers have to take into consideration fuel oil prices, which rose in the week ending 31 August.

Rising production costs and higher fuel oil prices have seen rack prices increase by $5/t to $320-325/t fob.

Malaysia
Increasing product availability by local producers and exporters has seen the supple situation improve significantly from less than a month ago. As a result, prices continued to drop by another $10/t fob for ex-refinery prices from Singapore to Malaysia.

Rainy weather in the week of 27-31 August in Kuala Lumpur and a number of dealers eager to let go of some existing stocks contributed to the weaker prices. One domestic producer is said to be expecting to have increased production in September and is likely to be able to handle most of the domestic requirement.

Indonesia
Demand continues to pick up as the country is in its peak construction season now and likely to be for the rest of September. But from mid-September to mid-October, there could be some slackening in demand as some projects slow down during Ramadan — the fasting period of the Islamic calendar.

Offers to Indonesia continue to be in the region of $300/t fob and above, but weakening prices in other parts of the region could offer buyers some relief, suggest market sources.

Thailand
It has been a relatively quiet week with some parties starting negotiations for October cargoes. Price indications and volumes are not available as yet with the negotiations in early stages.

September volumes were largely sold out in the week ending 31 August, and some spot volumes have been diverted to the domestic market to make up for a slight shortfall. Production at one refinery has dropped by 50pc because of a partial shutdown. As a result it will only have about 6,000t in spot volumes available in September.

South Korea
Wet typhoon weather has affected domestic demand in recent weeks. Producers that have prepared for what is typically a peak in domestic consumption now have some spot volumes available. Negotiations are still taking place and are expected to carry on into September. Offers are said to be focused on the Chinese market.

One refiner is said to have about 15,000t available for September delivery but has yet to settle on a price or buyer. The price gap between buyers and South Korean suppliers is quite significant at the moment, says one source closely involved in price negotiations.

China
Market sentiment was more upbeat in the week of 27-31 August, supported by slightly stronger demand resulting from improved weather conditions. Posted prices by domestic refineries are largely unchanged, as demand is still not strong enough to significantly deplete the high stockpile levels. Most traders feel that there is little possibility of a big price surge this year. The longer-than-expected rainy weather has delayed the start of the peak consumption season. Although buying interest is slightly stronger, it has not been translated into much actual demand.

Cfr prices to China are unchanged at $288-300/t. The importers are still not buying spot cargoes actively, but some have to accept term cargoes which they earlier contracted to buy.

A new tender emerged in southwestern Sichuan province seeking a total of 33,733t of asphalt. This tender comprises of 9,798t SBS modified grade and 23,935t AH-70 road building grade.

Taiwan
Fob prices are largely unchanged for the week of 27-31 August. CPC has a supply of 10 cargoes, all going to term buyers, with an average of 3,500t each for September. These cargoes are thought to be mostly sold out. Nearly a third of available volumes have been sold to buyers from southeast Asia and the rest to China.

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26/06/14

US-Iran agreement to end hostilities 'complete'

Washington, 14 June (Argus) — President Donald Trump on Sunday said an agreement with Iran was "now complete", as he ordered an end to the US naval blockade against Iran in conjunction with what he said would be the opening of the strait of Hormuz. "I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade," Trump wrote in a post on Truth social at 5:29pm ET (21:29 GMT). "Ships of the World, start your engines." Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the agreement will kick off a 60-day period of further negotiations, which would include the removal of all sanctions against Iran, the handling of Iran's nuclear program, economic reconstruction and mechanisms to implement the agreement, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency. Trump announced the deal despite a flare up in hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel earlier in the day and last-minute concerns from Iranian leaders about the US' ability to deliver on its commitments. The official signing of the deal will be on 19 June in Switzerland, said Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has been facilitating negotiations between the US and Iran. Mediators will hold meetings this week laying the groundwork for technical talks and the official signing, he said. "Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon," Sharif wrote in a post on social media. Ice Brent crude futures started sliding on the news in early Asian hours. The front-month contract was trading at $83.88/bl as of 21:34 GMT, down by more than 3pc than in the end of Friday 12 June. It remains unclear if tankers and other commercial vessels that have been stuck in the Mideast Gulf for months would be able to immediately start crossing the strait of Hormuz, portions of which have been mined. Although Trump said he authorized the "toll free" opening of the strait, Iranian officials have yet to commit that ships can cross the strait without adhering to requirements they have attempted to impose on maritime traffic. Trump has a history of overstating progress in reopening the strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil flows. He wrongly claimed in April the strait was "completely open". Earlier on Sunday, an Israel military strike against what Israel's Defense Forces claimed was a "Hezbollah command center" in Lebanon threatened to upend Trump's push for rapid progress on a deal to end the war, which the US and Israel started on 28 February. Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in a social media post, said the "incursion" indicated the US "either lacks the will to fulfill its commitments or the ability to do so." Trump said in a post on social media that the attack "should not have happened", particularly because an agreement was so close. The terms of the deal released so far are similar to those imposed under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 under former president Barack Obama. Trump administration officials say despite the similarities to the prior deal, their approach was preferable. "The huge difference is we did this from a position of strength. President Trump led with military might," US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said during an interview with CBS News on Sunday. "We can snap the blockade [against Iran] back at any point and they can't do anything about that." By Chris Knight and Andrey Telegin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US DOE: Roughly 7mn b/d moving through Hormuz

26/06/12

US DOE: Roughly 7mn b/d moving through Hormuz

Houston, 12 June (Argus) — About 7mn b/d of crude and oil products are moving through the strait of Hormuz, US energy secretary Chris Wright said today, but other industry sources dispute that figure. The 7mn b/d is "a rough average of where we are right now, and it's rising," Wright said at the Bloomberg Energy Security Executive Briefing in Houston, Texas, Friday. The number is about half of the 14mn b/d gap in supply caused by the de facto closing of the waterway since the start of the war, which also saw several million barrels a day diverted through regional pipelines, Wright said. A very large crude carrier (VLCC) carries 2mn bl of crude so Wright's estimate is equivalent to about 3.5 VLCCs a day. But oil major Chevron's chief executive Mike Wirth, who spoke later at the same event, raised doubts about Wright's 7mn b/d estimate. "It's probably not quite that much," Wirth said. "There are ships that have been transiting out, typically with transponders off, typically at night, and with some support from the US military," he added. The US' claims come at a time when visible commercial traffic through the waterway fell to some of its lowest levels since the conflict began. Mideast Gulf crude exports through the strait in June have averaged between 226,000-330,000 b/d, according to vessel tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa, but those figures likely undercount the total because vessels are turning their Automatic Identification System data while in the region to avoid attention. Maritime consultancy Windward data shows such "dark" transits through Hormuz have averaged four vessels across all segments per day this week, although those figures could include ships other than crude and refined products tankers. Prior to the war's start an average of 130 ships passed through the strait daily.Mideast and crude flows were about 14mn-15mn b/d. Mideast Gulf exports of energy, fertilizer and other commodities have been heavily limited since the start of the war in Iran, which has used the threat of attacks and naval mines to restrict traffic through the strait of Hormuz. The US and Iran are closing in on a deal to end military hostilities, even as they spar over the terms of an agreement that President Donald Trump says could be signed soon. But even if a deal is close to being signed, ship operators remain reluctant to send their tankers through the strait because of the high risk to seafarers, and will likely need to see sustained stability in the region for transits to meaningfully rebound to anything near pre-war levels. Since the war started, there have been 46 vessel attacks with 14 seafarer deaths, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook the US Energy Information Administration said it does not expect Hormuz traffic to recover to pre-war levels until at least early 2027. Trump said on Wednesday that the US military has been facilitating the transit of oil tankers through the strait. The US Navy is not actively escorting vessels through the strait of Hormuz, but is helping to "coach" vessels through a corridor south of the typical strait of Hormuz traffic lanes that cuts through Omani territorial waters, according to marine insurer Skuld. By Eunice Bridges and Nicholas Watt Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Energy transition must 'reflect national circumstances'

26/06/12

Energy transition must 'reflect national circumstances'

Sao Paulo, 12 June (Argus) — The roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels being drafted by the UN Cop 30 climate summit's presidency will "reflect diverse national circumstances", the Cop 30 presidency said on Friday during the Bonn climate talks. The roadmap — which was first proposed by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during Cop 30 , held in Brazil last November — will consider "different levels of socioeconomic development, energy access, fossil fuel dependency and capacity to transition", among other factors, the Cop 30 presidency said. The roadmap has so far received input from 115 countries and 247 non-state actors, the presidency said. The Cop 30 presidency has so far identified four main levers to accelerate the roadmap's implementation: Reforming the international financial architecture, which would include linking debt-relief mechanisms to the transition away from fossil fuels and increasing access to concessional finance and global carbon markets; Strengthening capacity-building, enabling technology sharing, in particular in transportation, supporting innovation in hard-to-abate sectors and increasing energy efficiency and electrification rates; Implementing regional and global cooperation mechanisms to reform international trade and legal framework for investments, and foster producer-consumer dialogue; Prioritizing the just transition, particularly for fossil fuel-dependent economies, by addressing competing development priorities, with information integrity and building trust across countries at different stages of development. During the meeting, a representative from the International Renewable Energy Agency agreed that electrification will be key to the global transition away from fossil fuels. The topic is set to take center stage during Cop 31, which will be held in Turkey in November, as that country has proposed a global goal for electricity to reach 35pc of global final energy consumption by 2035 as part of its action agenda. Some of the main barriers encountered so far for the transition away from fossil fuels are "structural imbalances in the global financial architecture, insufficient de-risking mechanisms and continued international finance flows towards fossil projects", the Cop 30 presidency added. The presidency has also found that the concentration of clean energy supply chains, the high-cost nature of nascent, hard-to-abate solutions, and limited technology sharing, as well as the absence of dedicated transition coordination mechanisms, also hinder the transition. Other factors such as insufficient political leadership, geopolitical uncertainty and armed conflicts — such as the Iran war — and outdated legal and trade frameworks are also hurdles for the transition. "The recent geopolitical crisis has shown very clearly how fossil fuels are linked to vulnerabilities, and we need to address this in the roadmap," Cop 30 president Andre Correa do Lago said. But the roadmap's implementation will be much easier than other climate negotiations, he added. "The great advantage of implementation is that we have much more freedom to implement than to negotiate," he said. "Negotiation requires consensus; implementation does not." The Cop 30 presidency expects to unveil the roadmap during Cop 31. It is also working on a roadmap to address deforestation, which it will also unveil at Cop 31. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Brazil waste oil mandate could raise biodiesel costs

26/06/11

Brazil waste oil mandate could raise biodiesel costs

Sao Paulo, 11 June (Argus) — The mandatory use of waste oils and fats (WOFs) in the production of biodiesel in Brazil is likely to raise product costs, considering the limited supply of these raw materials and competition from products with higher added value, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). In May, Brazil's mines and energy ministry MME published a decree mandating the use of 1pc WOFs in the production of biodiesel, SAF and HVO starting 1 January 2028. Until then, the use of these raw materials is voluntary. Per the decree, the minimum percentage of WOFs will be reviewed every three years, based on factors such as the available quantity of the raw material, advances in traceability mechanisms, the expansion of collection infrastructure and increased pretreatment capacity. In Brazil, the market for used cooking oil (UCO) — one of the main types of WOFs — remains unregulated and lacks consolidated official data. Estimates of collection levels in the coming years vary widely, with projections ranging from 500,000 metric tonnes (t)/y to 2mn t/y, according to market participants. In 2025, biodiesel production used approximately 100,000t of UCO. When soybean oil prices are high, WOFs serve as an important alternative feedstock for biodiesel production, especially for non-vertically integrated plants. In 2025, for example, the average price of UCO fob Sao Paulo, with 3.5pc acidity was R5,438($1.051)/t. The price of soybean oil cif Sao Paulo stood at R5,808/t during the same period, according to Argus indicators. The mandatory use of WOFs may alter this trend, with increased demand from the biodiesel, SAF and HVO industries driving up the price of UCO and, consequently, the final product. The use of WOFs in biodiesel production is also expected to impact the glycerin market, which, because some countries accept only the byproduct derived from virgin vegetable oils, will need to diversify its consumer base. The Brazilian biofuels industry considers the deadline for the mandatory adoption of 1pc OGRs in biodiesel production to be insufficient, given the necessary adaptations required at plants that currently operate exclusively with virgin vegetable oils. A major biodiesel producer that acquired existing WOF plants in the Brazilian market told Argus that it has been involved for over three years in projects to adapt these industrial units. It considers it unfeasible for small-scale plants to complete all the required adjustments in just over a year and a half. The MME stated that the measure takes into account the sector's varying technological realities. The gradual implementation is specifically intended to allow for industrial adaptation and the expansion of processing capacity for these raw materials. Traceability initiatives Brazil's UCO market is maturing but, to date, lacks consolidated traceability projects. According to the MME, the period of voluntary use of WOFs was structured to allow for the sector's gradual adaptation, the development of collection and processing chains and the advancement of traceability mechanisms. In this context, Brazil's animal recycling association Abra is working to create a specific national classification of economic activities (CNAE) for UCO. The organization is also developing an app designed to record information on the collection and movement of the raw material, with the aim of reducing traceability gaps and increasing transparency throughout the production chain. Meanwhile, Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras recently announced an investment of R23mn in initiatives for the collection of animal by-products intended for the production of biofuel. The funds will be directed toward projects by non-profit organizations to improve the logistics and infrastructure of collection points, including the provision of equipment for filtering and temporary storage of the product. By Natalia Dalle Cort Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Global warming set to exceed 1.5°C by 2030: Scientists

26/06/11

Global warming set to exceed 1.5°C by 2030: Scientists

London, 11 June (Argus) — The rise in global temperature is projected to surpass 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels — the limit sought by the Paris climate agreement — "in about four years", an international team of more than 70 scientists said today. "Human-induced warming reached 1.37°C" in 2025, compared with the 1850-1900 average, the latest Indicators of Global Climate Change report found. The Paris agreement seeks to curb the global rise in temperature to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursues a 1.5°C limit. "The rate at which heat is accumulating in the earth system suggests high levels of future warming", the report found. "The rate of human-induced warming remains at the all-time high of around 0.27°C per decade, driven primarily by record-high greenhouse gas levels." It estimated the remaining global carbon budget — the amount of CO2 that can still be emitted before the 1.5°C threshold is exceeded — is 130bn t/CO2, from the start of 2026. This estimate, which is a central one, "will be exhausted in around three years at current levels of CO2 emissions", the report found. Global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high 56.8bn t/CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2024, according to the report, "mainly from the burning of fossil fuels." "Although we still have record high levels of emissions, the growth of those CO2 emissions is slowing," the EU Copernicus programme's strategic lead for climate Samantha Burgess said today. "That doesn't mean we're on track yet, but it does mean that policy, technology, and societal choices are starting to bend the curve." Burgess was speaking at climate talks underway in Bonn, Germany, hosted by UN climate body the UNFCCC. El Nino weather conditions have now developed in the tropical Pacific, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed today. The weather pattern, which is naturally-occurring, typically leads to higher global temperatures. Current forecasting suggest it is "likely to be a very strong event", the UK's Met Office said today. Some forecasts suggest "values that would be of record strength", the Met Office said. "It is also highly likely that the El Nino will cause a temporary spike in global annual temperature with the residual heat potentially making next year the hottest in the global series from 1850", Met Office head of long-range forecasting Adam Scaife said. The hottest year on record to date is 2024. The past three years, 2023-25, are the hottest three years recorded. The average temperature across 2023-25 was 1.48°C above pre-industrial levels — with a margin of uncertainty of 0.13°C — data consolidated by the World Meteorological Organisation show. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Asphalt: Asia-Pacific market commentary

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