Singapore fuel oil trade volume highest in at least 5 years: traders

[SINGAPORE] The daily volume fuel oil trades concluded during the Asia's pricing process hit its highest in at least five years on Tuesday, traders said.

A total of 620,000 tonnes traded on Tuesday, of which 560,000 tonnes were 380-centistoke grade - nearly a third of the monthly volume traded in May over the price assessment process facilitated by Platts, a unit at of McGraw Hill Financial.

"I believe we may have the record today," said a Singapore-based trader, referring to the total daily trade volume of both the 180-cst and 380-cst grades.

Another trader confirmed that the largest daily volume traded he had seen in his career of more than five years was around 400,000 tonnes in June 2013.

Platts could not immediately confirm if Tuesday's volume was the highest ever.

Traders are expecting physical cargo trade for the 380-cst grade to easily top 3 million tonnes in June, based on open interest in derivatives for the oil product.

The last time the monthly trade volume exceed the 3 million tonne mark was in October 2013, when it hit 3.2 million tonnes.

The total open interest for the June 380-cst and 180-cst grades stand at 12.7 million tonnes and 4 million tonnes as at May 29, data from Intercontinental Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchanged showed.

REUTERS