Recent bullishness in feedstock ethanol along with seasonal demand has pulled up ETBE's 

premium over MTBE. 

ETBE was priced at a premium of $185/mt over MTBE, up $20/mt on the day. The average 

premium in April was $165/mt.

An ETBE trade source said the premium was surprisingly high, describing MTBE as "OK," w

hile other octanes didn't have an outlet to Asia. "Reformate has fairly moderate premiums to 

Eurobob," he said. 

Upstream, ethanol was assessed at Eur597/cm FOB Rotterdam Wednesday, a two-month h

igh and an increase of 7.4% since end of last month. 

The ethanol prompt market remained supported, with an ethanol trader saying the market w

as  exhibiting  some tightness. The backwardation continued, with expectations of increased 

supply along the curve, and imports arriving into Rotterdam toward mid-year.