Styrene: Trading

Dalian futures and the benzene-plus-margin formula

What this tab covers How it is bought and sold: buyers and sellers, price benchmarks and who publishes them, exchanges, contract types, traders, how Indian buyers price it, recent price points, and good sources to follow.

Who buys, and where

India
Southeast Asia
Europe (since 2024)
Turkey
Latin America

Who sells, and from where

China (from 2025)
United States
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
South Korea
Japan

Price benchmarks

Benchmark	Publisher	Basis
Platts styrene FOB ARA	S&P Global Platts	5-30 days forward, daily
Platts styrene CFR China and FOB Korea	S&P Global Platts	spot, daily
ICIS styrene Asia and Europe contract	ICIS	spot and monthly contract

Exchanges

Venue	Contract	Notes
Dalian Commodity Exchange	Styrene futures (EB), launched 2019 (indicative)	Main hedging tool for Chinese producers and traders; contract details not confirmed in sources reached.

Contract types

Monthly contracts in Europe and US based on benzene and ethylene formula plus margin
Spot cargoes of 2,000-5,000 t in Asia
Term supply to PS and ABS converters

Traders and distributors

Glencore
Vitol
Trafigura
Mitsui
Marubeni
Producer trading arms

How Indian buyers price it

Indian polystyrene and ABS makers buy at CFR India against Asian markers; no domestic producer sets a list price (indicative).
Import duty and freight from the Gulf and Asia set landed cost; Gulf supply disruption in 2026 raised this cost (indicative).

Recent price points

Date	Price	Basis	Source
21 Nov 2023	$990.50/t	FOB ARA, 5-30 days forward	Platts via Chemical Week
2 Mar 2026	$1,030/t	Asia	S&P Global Platts

Good sources to follow

Chemical Weekpaid research site · S&P Global

Plant closures and styrene market analysis

OPIS Energy Market Newsfreemium research site · OPIS

Asian benzene and styrene

Asian Chemical Connectionsfree blog · John Richardson, ICIS

China styrene self-sufficiency

Mysteel Globalfreemium research site · Mysteel

China styrene capacity and exports