In China, a major Taiwanese producer announced their January PVC prices with a $20/ton decrease from December at $720/ton CFR China, cash. A source from the producer said, “We lowered our prices due to sluggish demand amidst surplus supply in China. We are willing to give a $10/ton discount for buyers purchasing more than 1,000 tons.” A converter who received the January offer from the producer stated, “Demand for our end products remains thin due to the ongoing low season. Hence, we are not purchasing beyond our urgent needs. Plus, we are not feeling confident enough to build extra stocks as prices still have room for further drops until the Chinese New Year.” Import PVC prices were reported at $695-720/ton CFR China, cash equivalent, with a trader offering US cargoes at the low end. Inside China, local prices were stable to slightly firmer over the past week. Players attributed the trend to the fact that upstream costs were unchanged while several domestic producers cut their run rates to around 60% given low VMC costs. “We are not expecting to see a real improvement in market activities in the first quarter of 2016 as the gap between VCM and PVC prices is shrinking. However, our local business is still better when compared to exports,” a producer source said. Another Chinese producer announced their export PVC prices for January with a $10/ton drop at $700/ton FOB, cash.