USD/JPY printed 158.15, up 0.48, with the yen near its yearly weak end. USD/KRW stood at 1358.39, up 0.12, a mild won slip. USD/CNY held at 6.7050, essentially flat. Three currencies, three paths — North-East Asian refiners no longer share one dollar-funding cost.

A weak yen lifts Japanese refiners' local-currency import cost, but their product exports settle in dollars, so they pocket an FX gain. Korean plants face dearer imports as the won slips, yet their petrochemical exports gain competitiveness. Both sides use a soft local currency to hedge high crude.

The flat yuan means Chinese independents' duty-paid import cost tracks Brent almost one-for-one; this round's $4.42 Brent rise shows up directly in the delivered price with no currency cushion.

Operator read: when quoting North-East Asian counterparties, model each currency's spot separately — do not lump them into one 'Asian' basket. Re-negotiate hedge clauses on yen-denominated term deals; a softer won actually helps us pick up long-term Korean downstream contracts.