Plastics prices, U.S. production finish 2012 on high note

The Platts Global Polypropylene Index edged up 2% in December to $1470/tonne, despite a 2% decline in key monomer, propylene, during the same period. The Platts Global Low-Density Polyethylene Index increased 4% in December to $1476/tonne, up from $1434/tonne in November, with its key monomer, ethylene, up less than half a percent during the same period to $1256/tonne. A 7% spike in benzene prices from November to December impacted toluene, xylene, and ultimately nylon.

The PGPI reflects a compilation of the daily price assessments of physical spot market ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, paraxylene, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene as published by Platts and is weighted by the three regions of Asia, Europe and the United States.

U.S. production of major plastic resins totaled 6.2 billion lb during November 2012, up 5.6% compared to the same month in 2011, according to statistics released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Year-to-date production was 69.4 billion lb, up 2% over 2011.

ACC reported that sales and captive (internal) use of major plastic resins totaled 6.1 billion lb during November 2012, down 2.6% from the same month one year earlier. Year-to-date sales and captive use registered 69.1 billion lb, a 1.6% increase as compared to the same period in 2011.