news of Reliance’s PX plant maintenance ripped through the market

On Sep 2 evening, news of Reliance’s PX plant maintenance ripped through the market. As a result, China PTA futures surged on evening trading session, with 2301 contract advancing 3.67%. Though it is hard to say how much PTA futures were driven up by the news, the impact is strong.

Reliance scheduled maintenance for its PX plants earlier, but it has not yet announced the details about the maintenance including the time, duration and any cuts of contract good delivery. In addition, the maintenance has been delayed for several times, and there’s no official confirmation on the schedule. However, the operating rate of its PX plants have been reduced from nearly 100% to 80-85% in early Aug.