So Joy, what are you seeing in the Asian market right now? And how would you describe the current market sentiment and liquidity? And have you heard about any early indications for next year's term contract during the conference?

The market entered the annual Oliphants Conference on a very bullish note, with Northeast Asian propylene prices reaching a fresh 2026 high and surpassing the previous peak seen in April.

Amid very sharp volatility in upstream crude prices and China's domestic propylene market, participants have shown a greater preference for formula-based discussions.

So recent deals for November shipments have been concluded at premiums of around $50 per ton, sharply higher than the single digit premium seen in 2026 term contracts as you have mentioned.

So I think negotiations for 2027 term contracts are expected to be more protracted with bullish indications from recent formula-based deals likely to influence seller expectations.

And the market also broadly agrees that export availability from South Korea and Japan would decline next year amid anticipated domestic supply shortfalls linked to cracker rationalization.

However, the supply-demand balance in the Ulsan region in South Korea remains one of the major uncertainties, largely depending on the start-up of S.Oil's Shaheen Cracker, which is currently expected to be in early 2027.

As the import supply of methanol from Iran is yet to resume normal, MTO producers tend to plan and discuss their contract volumes of propylene based on the assumption of keeping units running at the lowest rate or keeping their units shut.

How about properly enjoy?

Thanks Lafee.

The propylene market is entering the contract season on a bullish footing as just ahead of the ANMOR contract season conference.

Propylene prices hit a 2026 high supported by concentrated buying requirements and tightening supply.

So this has set a bullish tone for negotiations as we see in the Conference so far, although compressed downstream margins and uncertainty over the 2027 supply-demand balance remain key concerns.

So market participants are watching closely for the timeliness of new plant startups, operating reliability and anticipated demand growth from some downstream expansions.

The second focus is definitely that contract discussions are likely to be more protracted this year, as key Northeast Asian exporters anticipate lower term and overall export volumes next year in 2027. due to expected south korean supply shortfalls linked to cracker rationalization and this has fueled a very strong bullish indication from suppliers however downstream affordability and potential feedstock constraints are still clouding the outlook and a key market concern is the startup timing of s oil's shaheen cracker which has so far been delayed from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2027 based on current estimates The startup is expected to turn Ulsan in South Korea long, which is in contrary to a tighter outlook in Yeosu.