Strait Talk on Chemicals—Expert Call on Asian Petchem Inventories & Pricing

Research evidence excerpt

Strait Talk on Chemicals—Expert Call on Asian Petchem Inventories & Pricing

May 18, 2026 | 04:00 ET~

US Chemicals

Strait Talk on Chemicals—Expert Call on Asian US Chemicals

Petchem Inventories & Pricing John P. McNulty, CFA Analyst

john.mcnulty@bmo.com (646) 946-8428

Bhavesh Lodaya Analyst

Bottom Line: bhavesh.lodaya@bmo.com (347) 274-1393

In addition to commentary from our Chemicals and Farm to Market Conference (see Caleb Boehnlein Senior Associate

link), we had a number of updates tied to the Iran Conflict and the closed Strait. We caleb.boehnlein@bmo.com (347) 906-1860

have seen the number of ships running through the Strait improve, primarily product Margarita Margulis Associate

headed for China while Trump and Xi met this week. BMO Research held a discussion margarita.margulis@bmo.com (332) 257-0592

with CMA's Asian Chemical expert to discuss the reason why we have not seen Asian Legal Entity: BMO Capital Markets Corp.

pricing spike the way it has in NA and Europe, with several interesting conclusions/

points that indicate scarcity may not be an issue for some time in China. We also saw What's Inside

mixed news on plant closures and openings (largely in Asia). Finally, we have seen Given the accelerating flow of information—

some updates tied to commodities with acetyl pricing coming off in the spot markets, from plant closures and commodity pricing to

while PE, PP, PVC, and caustic are all relatively flattish. demand trends and management & industry expert

commentary—our "Strait Talk on Chemicals" series is

Key Points designed to keep pace with these rapidly evolving

developments; the report will be updated frequently

to deliver timely, actionable, and time-sensitive news

News From the Iran Conflict and insights.