Plastics News Europe - September 2019 - 38

polymer prices

sluggish sales put brake
on planned price hikes
I
n August, European standard
thermoplastic prices tracked
cost development in generally
very calm markets. Buying activity
was sluggish, particularly in
Southern Europe, where most of
the plastics processing industry
was closed for the holiday season.
At the start of the month,
some polymer producers announced planned price increases
ahead of monomer cost development to bolster margins. However, buyers strongly resisted these
plans. Polyolefins and PVC notations were mostly settled on a
rollover basis compared to the
previous month. Styrenics, on the
other hand, moved upward in line
with higher feedstock costs.
The August ethylene contract
price surprisingly settled €10/
tonne higher when most market
participants expected a rollover
from July. Polyethylene contract
prices mostly settled unchanged
compared to the previous month.
Producers' plans to raise notations were mostly undermined by
low demand, special offers and
good material availability.
PVC prices, which are also
largely influenced by the cost of
ethylene, were also mostly rolled
over due to lacklustre demand.
The August propylene contract price was fixed with a rollover after the sharp fall of €80/

Polymer demand was low as many converters had closed their plants for the holiday season

tonne in July. Polypropylene contract prices followed suit in quiet
markets.
The August styrene monomer
(SM) reference price settled €33/
tonne higher compared to the
previous month reflecting cost
increases for benzene and ethylene. Most polystyrene sellers announced plans to raise prices by
more than the SM reference
price, but buyers were not prepared to comply. Contract negotiations for general-purpose

prices monitor August 2018-August 2019
Source: Plastics News Europe

2.0

PS (general purpose)
PP (homo injection)
LDPE (film grade)
HDPE (injection moulding)
LLDPE (film grade)
PVC (high quality)
PET (bottle grade)

Aug

July

June

May

Apr

Mar

Dec
2019
Jan
Feb

Nov

Oct

1.0

2018
Aug
Sept

1.5

polystyrene and high-impact
polystyrene mostly settled €3035/tonne higher.
The August feedstock reference prices for paraxylene had
not settled at time of writing but
monoethylene glycol prices fell
slightly. With market sentiment
predicting fairly stable costs, the
majority of PET contracts settled
either slightly lower or showing a
weak rollover compared to the
previous month.

Supply normalises
In August, material availability
for the HDPE, PP, PVC and PS
polymer markets was getting
back to normal, but a small surplus remained for L/LDPE. The
PET sector was still characterised
by oversupply and imports were
still evident.
Braskem lifted the force majeure on polypropylene production at its plant in Schkopau,
Germany 1 August after a long
shutdown.
European monomer production has also mostly returned to
normal after the end of the
maintenance season. Shell has
announced that the facility at
Moerdijk, The Netherlands is
again operational and Dow has
restarted its cracker at Böhlen,
Germany.
However, according to market sources, LyondellBasell has
started a turnaround at its crack-

er in Wesseling, Germany and
Ineos has also began a six-week
maintenance at its cracker in
Grangemouth, the UK. Furthermore, ExxonMobil had an unplanned shutdown of its Fife
cracker in Scotland 12 August
due to mechanical failure of two
boilers.

Demand low
In August, polymer demand was
low as many converters, particularly in France, southern Germany, Italy and Spain, had closed
their plants for the holiday season. Many of those converters
who remained open held back
from making additional purchases with an expectation of lower
prices to come. The economic
slowdown across Europe also restrained end user demand.

September outlook
In September, polymer demand
is expected to recover as the
market returns to normal following the end of the summer holidays. Monomer contracts could
settle higher with the onset of
cracker maintenance works.
However, crude oil and naphtha
prices have pointed downward
in recent weeks. While polymer
producers could seek to raise
prices and improve their margins, weak end-use demand
could restrain any such planned
price hikes.

september 2019

Plastics News Europe - September 2019

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