Asphalt Weekly Monitor

15 May 2020

• East Coast retail asphalt and flux pricing remains steady for this week.
• Some asphalt barge prices firm on the East Coast, with flux barge pricing unchanged.
• Retail markets in the Midwest were mostly steady, with a few locations slipping lower.    
• Midwest wholesale barge price assessment narrowed. Rail supply and roofing flux prices were steady.  Refineries in the Midwest, as elsewhere, are operating at reduced levels. 
• Gulf Coast retail asphalt and flux pricing is steady throughout the region.
• The barge price band for asphalt narrowed on the Gulf Coast, with flux barge pricing flat.
• Rocky Mountain retail prices were mostly steady this week, with one exception.
• Rocky Mountain wholesale prices were steady at previously noted May levels. Many refineries are still operating in reduced capacity.
• Markets were static in most West Coast locations this week.
• In western Canada, both retail and wholesale prices were unchanged this week.
• Both Quebec and Ontario markets were steady this week.
• Oil prices moved up again this week for all benchmark grades, mostly due to global oil production cuts and oil inventory decline in the U.S. as well as the signs of increasing oil demand in some parts of U.S. and Europe, with eased lock-downs.