Plastics News Europe - June 2019 - 36

polymer prices

petrochemical feedstock contract prices June 2018-may 2019 (€/tonne)
Jun

Jul

Aug

sept

oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

mar

Apr

may

change
Apr/may

ethylene

1150

1135

1145

1135

1025

985

1015

1045

1075

Propylene

1032

1040

1135

1070

1060

960

925

950

970

990

Styrene

1345

1295

1315

1135

1310

1140

990

975

995

Benzene

757

794

742

733

777

693

542

485

497

558

640

680

Paraxylene

890

950

1170

1138

1060

960

925

960

995

925

-70

1055 1152.5 1185.0

Source: Plastics News Europe

l/
l
D
p
e

In May, L/LDPE suppliers called for price hikes of €50-70/
tonne in an attempt to improve margins following a €30/
tonne increase in the monthly ethylene contract price. Sellers managed to obtain price increases just above the rise in
feedstock costs as a result of relative tightness for these two
products. LDPE prices gained around €40/tonne during May
with LLDPE film grades rising €45/tonne over the previous
month.

As LLDPE is largely dependent on imports, the sharper
rise for LLDPE is explained by a reduction of imported material to Europe, which resulted in lower supply. Production
outages at several regional crackers also led to a disruption
for LDPE production, although material availability was sufficient to meet demand.
Demand was fairly subdued at the beginning of May but
started to recover during final two weeks of the month.

H
D
p
e

Within the PE category, HDPE prices increased by less than L/
LDPE as HDPE availability is considered more comfortable. As a
result, HDPE suppliers were unable to gain margin improvement across the board. Only blow moulding product achieved
a price gain above the €30/tonne rise in feedstock costs. Injection moulding grades tended to settle at less than the rise in
ethylene costs while blown film prices settled up by €30/
tonne.

In May, HDPE material availability was more than sufficient
to meet demand. Injection moulding product was particularly
well supplied by imports. It appears that some low-pressure
grade producers in supplier countries switched their swing
plants from LLD (C4) to HD injection moulding because of
more attractive prices.
Demand was fairly subdued at the beginning of May but
started to recover during the final two weeks of the month.

p
p

In May, the propylene reference price was raised by €20/
tonne following the increase in naphtha costs. Polypropylene
suppliers responded by calling for price hikes in excess of
monomer cost rise to improve the margins.
However, given that supply was adequate and demand
rather slow to take off, producers had to rein back on their
initial asking prices. Nevertheless, PP prices still managed to
increase beyond the monomer cost rise as supply tightened

later in the month.
Supply was normal during the first half of the month but
shortened as a result of several force majeures being called
for propylene and ethylene at major cracket plants towards
the end of the month.
Demand was subdued during May. Polypropylene demand
continued to be hard hit by the downturn in the automotive
sector and the sluggish European economy.

p
s

The European PS market registered its fourth consecutive month
of hikes, mainly prompted upward by feedstock costs. Major PS
players announced planned price hikes of €40-50/tonne after the
monthly styrene reference cost settled €32.5/tonne higher. However, contract settlements were being concluded at much smaller
levels within the range €20-25/tonne. The surcharge for high-impact material (HIPS) was, as usual, between €115-125/tonne following a rollover for the butadiene contract.

There were no supply restraints; availability has improved significantly and sellers became under pressure to offload surplus
stock. It was also reported that imports from the US were arriving
in Europe, causing an oversupply.
The weakness of the economy is impacting PS demand. In addition, buyers are holding back from stock building due to an expectation of lower prices in June and beyond as feedstock costs
have been falling.

p
V
c

PVC producers are taking a tougher line on price increases aimed at
improving profit margins. In May, major PVC producers announced
planned price hikes of €40/tonne. There is increasing margin pressure
due to a renewed degradation of the profitability of the European
chlorovinyls value chain. As a result, caustic soda prices are declining.
In May, PVC producers did not gain quite as much margin
improvement as hoped for. Nevertheless, they managed to increase prices above the proportionate €15/tonne impact on

their production costs of higher ethylene.
PVC producers have maintained strict supply controls in recent months and material availability has reduced. Meanwhile,
several PVC producers faced production restrictions due to feedstock supply disruption.
PVC demand was at normal seasonal levels although some
buyers were holding off purchasing additional volumes due to
the higher prices.

p
e
T

The PET market saw weak demand and lower prices in
May. PET prices declined by €50/tonne reflecting lower
feedstock costs. An initial paraxylene contract price settled
down by €70/tonne while monoethylene glycol was also
expected to decline by at least €20/tonne.
PET demand was at normal levels in the second half of
April as the weather was unusually hot in North-western Europe. However, the expected seasonal pick-up in beverage

sector activity in May was delayed due to bad weather in
the region. In addition to the cold weather conditions and
frequent rains, high inventories also led to weaker pricing.
On the supply side, European plants ran without major
interruptions in May with production being ramped up in
anticipation of a demand upturn in spring. There was also
a good supply of competitively-price import offers from
Asia.

June 2019

Plastics News Europe - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Europe - June 2019