Asia/Pacific News
Platts Asian Fuel Oil Trades Halved in 2020 After IMO 2020 Shift
The volume of Asian fuel oil trades recorded through the S&P Global Platts market-on-close (MOC) price assessment system almost halved last year as the shipping industry shifted its fuel type.
Platts recorded 7.33 million mt of 180 CST and 380 CST HSFO and VLSFO trades in its Singapore MOC last year, down by 46% from 2019's level, news agency Reuters reported Thursday.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the downfall of Singapore oil trading firm Hin Leong may have partly been behind the decline. One other potential cause could have been an inclination by oil producers away from transparency over VLSFO pricing at the start of 2020 when margins on the new fuel blends were elevated.
"We're not focused on ensuring there are large volumes of trades during the MOC," Reuters cited Calvin Lee, head of content for Asia at Platts, as saying.
"What we are really keen on is the demonstration of value and we do still see quite a fair bit of bids and offers every day even though overall trade volumes has dropped but this is true for all products."
