Resin markets end month with high transactional volumes and sliding pricesResin markets end month with high transactional volumes and sliding prices

The commodity resin markets finished the month with a bang—transactional volumes were high and spot prices for both polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) slid a cent across the board, reports the PlasticsExchange in its Market Update for the week of Oct. 30. After seeing a reduced flow of material in the previous week, PE availability improved again. Although spot PP railcar offers are still few and far between, Houston availability is growing and pockets of supply are appearing around the country. Traders are a bit leery to take on speculative positions at the moment, especially given persistent packaging delays. In the meantime, heavy volumes of PE are still being exported directly.