Tokyo (Platts)--11Feb2011/524 am EST/1024 GMT
The Hong Kong 380 CST bunker fuel premium to Singapore high sulfur fuel oil cargoes slipped 30% within the week to $36.68/mt Thursday mainly due to lower demand after the Lunar New Year holidays. In addition, the arrival of Sinopec's 40,000 mt cargo on February 11 has helped to dampen the premium, a trader said. Hong Kong 380 CST bunker fuel was assessed at $618/mt Thursday, down from $622.50/mt on Monday as the tightness eased. The strength of the Hong Kong bunker market was seen on January 26, when Hong Kong prices rose above South Korea prices. Hong Kong bunker fuel typically trades about $10/mt below that of South Korea. Singapore 380 CST HSFO cargoes were assessed at $581.32/mt Thursday, up from $569.81/mt on Monday mainly on the back of stronger crude benchmarks. Singapore is the main supplier of HSFO cargoes to Hong Kong. Hong Kong typically imports seven 40,000 mt cargoes each month, mostly on a term basis, to supply to the bunker market, but in January it bought additional cargoes to stock up ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays over February 2-6, industry sources said. Following the holidays, demand weakened partly due to the high premiums. "After the Lunar New Year, [we saw] less demand," said a supplier. Hong Kong typically sells 500,000-600,000 mt/month of bunker fuel.--Atsuko Kawasaki, atsuko_kawasaki@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Bunkerwire. See more information at http://bit.ly/Bunkerwire