, climbing on the back of tight regional availability coupled with gains in upstream crude, naphtha, and propylene feedstock. PP homopolymer spot prices rose to €860/tonne FD Northwest Europe, with PP copolymer prices rising to €910/tonne FD Northwest Europe, both up €5/tonne from the week before. In the contract markets, PP injection grades rose to €940/tonne FD Northwest Europe, while PP copolymer prices were assessed at €990/tonne FD Northwest Europe. In plant news, Russian producer Sibur reportedly shutdown its PP plant at Tomsk for a turnaround, with the outage planned to last until mid August.
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) general-purpose contracts were flat at €1020/tonne FD Northwest Europe, but European LDPE producers are targeting price hikes for August given the tightness in regional product availability and expectations of a higher settlement in August ethylene contracts. LDPE prices were also flat at €940/tonne FD Northwest Europe. Polymerupdate noted that sellers who were not pressured by building inventories were more ambitious with their offers and priced them at €960/tonne FD Northwest Europe mark and higher. Dow Europe announced a €60/tonne hike for its August PE prices in an effort to improve margins.
Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) prices ended flat in Europe last week, with contract prices unchanged from the week before at €1010/tonne FD mark, with spot prices flat at €930/tonne FD. Dow has announced an increase of €60/tonne for its August prices.
Polystyrene (PS) contract prices edged higher in Europe, with general-purpose PS at €1155/tonne FD Northwest Europe and FD Italy and high-impact PS reaching €1205/tonne FD Northwest Europe and FD Italy. The increase was supported by run cuts at PS facilities across the region, with Ineos Nova further slashing output at its 80,000 tonnes/year plant in Trelleborg, Sweden.
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) contract prices firmed last week, with general-purpose and natural-grade contracts reaching €1340/tonne FD Northwest Europe and €1340/tonne FD Italy. European ABS producers say they successfully implemented July hikes of €100/tonne, as buyers accepted the increase given strength in upstream prices. In the spot market, general-purpose and natural-grade ABS prices were flat at €1100/tonne FD Northwest Europe.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) suspension-grade spot prices climbed once again in Europe last week, rising on reports of the force majeure declaration by Ineos ChlorVinyls and a shutdown at Solvin’s PVC plant. Spot PVC prices rose to €770-€790/tonne FD Northwest Europe, while in the contract market, PVC suspension-grade prices were unchanged at €790/tonne FD Northwest Europe.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle-grade prices softened in Eastern Europe, with contracts at €1170/tonne FD Northwest Europe. In the spot market, prices were assessed at €900-€940/tonne FD Northwest Europe. Some PET sellers reported having a hard time finding buyers as they competed against cheaper PET from Asia, particularly South Korea. In the spot market, offers were mostly heard at $960/tonne FD and higher in Northern Europe, while in Spain, prices were above $1000/tonne FD. PET was cheapest in Eastern Europe with rates heard at €900/tonne FD and lower. Outages have played a part, with local PET maker Novapet shutting down its 130,000 tonnes/year plant in Barbastro for a few days due to an electrical problem. Elsewhere, Artenius’s 100,000 tonnes/year PET facility has restarted but not at full output. —[email protected]
