Resin Price Report: PE, PP Prices Rise Amid Strong DemandResin Price Report: PE, PP Prices Rise Amid Strong Demand
A modest flow of off-grade polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) offers and a few Prime railcars carried over from late June were instantly snatched up by buyers.
July 12, 2024

Plastic-free July? Not at the PlasticsExchange, where the spot resin market started the month with a bang, reports the resin clearinghouse in its Market Update. Participants were eager to put transactions on the books by Wednesday before taking leave for the long Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Transactions unusually high for this time of year.
A modest flow of off-grade polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) offers and a few Prime railcars carried over from late June were snatched up by buyers. Completed volumes at the PlasticsExchange trading desk were high the first few days of July, which are traditionally slow. Prices for both PE and PP rose amid stronger-than-normal demand, which included a big run on packaged truckloads ahead of Hurricane Beryl. At the time of writing, the storm is forecast to re-strengthen in the Gulf before making landfall again somewhere along the Texas coast laden with petrochemical complexes and plastic resin producing plants. Several producers have announced plans to implement precautionary measures and idle reactors ahead of the storm's arrival.
Buyers stock up ahead of Hurricane Beryl.
A relatively high volume of PE resin changed hands, as both processors and resellers secured extra material ahead of the season’s first hurricane to threaten US plastics production. The bulk of the buying focused on high-density (HD) PE Injection and linear-low-density (LLD) PE Film, with a smattering of other grades rounding out last week’s activity. PE prices rose a half-cent across the board, except for HDPE Injection, which was up a full penny.
Ongoing export demand from Latin America continued to apply upward pressure on US export prices for another week. The first round of producer export offers sold out instantly, leaving lots of unfilled demand awaiting additional offerings. Buyers in the region are still coping with high freight costs and delayed shipments from Asia, driving buyers to the US market for quick and competitive supply.
Producers press for three-cent hike on contracts.
On the domestic front, June contracts remain unsettled. Producers have been pressing for another three-cent increase and, despite the moderate spot strength, large buyers have been pushing back hard as they digest the last three-cent hike. This increase might need to wait until July, where there is another nickel already nominated, writes the PlasticsExchange. It is not unusual for price increases to get stacked in the summer in case a hurricane comes to disrupt production in a meaningful way.
11 more storm systems forming in Atlantic basin.
This could be one of those years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an above-average season then raised the outlook to extreme following the shift from El Niño to La Niña. As of July 11, millions of Texans were without power, some of them coping with triple-digit temperatures, to boot. A Category 1 hurricane — the weakest class — by the time it reached Texas, many of the disruptions it caused to the chemical industry were related to power outages, reports ICIS. “An equal number of disruptions was caused by companies shutting down operations as a precaution,” adds the global source of commodity intelligence. Meteorologists forecast 11 more storm systems forming in the Atlantic basin, well before what is considered the peak season in late summer.
Buyers scoop up relatively well-priced PP.
PP trading remained solid the week of July 1, although transactions slowed a tad from the very fast pace seen the previous few weeks. Demand persisted while fresh offerings were limited, and buyers scooped up relatively well-priced material as they face rising contract prices again in July, writes the PlasticsExchange.
Transactions were evenly split between homo- and copolymer PP as well as Prime and off grade. Prime PP prices rose $0.015/lb as offers cleared out. Export sales were completed into Mexico, though volumes were lighter as buyers digested rising price levels.
Propane dehydrogenation (PDH) units continue to have issues and polymer-grade propylene (PGP) supplies are tight; they are susceptible to additional production disruptions, according to the PlasticsExchange. Monomer has already run into the low $0.50s per pound and highly correlated PP contracts are setting up for another increase, currently tracking toward a nickel, but it is still very early in the month.
Read the full Market Update on the PlasticsExchange website.
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