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Resin report: PE supplies plentiful, prices slip

The resin markets continued to transact at an elevated pace, with the second half of September more than making up for a slow start to the month, writes the PlasticsExchange in its weekly Market Update. Transactional volume continued to be greatly slanted towards polyethylene (PE), where supplies are plentiful and prices are under pressure. The flow of PE offers was high again the week of Sept. 28, and prices slid a cent across the board. Polypropylene (PP) prices held steady and offers were limited, but material could be found against buyer requests.

PlasticsToday Staff

October 6, 2015

2 Min Read
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The resin markets continued to transact at an elevated pace, with the second half of September more than making up for a slow start to the month, writes the PlasticsExchange in its weekly Market Update. Transactional volume continued to be greatly slanted towards polyethylene (PE), where supplies are plentiful and prices are under pressure. The flow of PE offers was high again the week of Sept. 28, and prices slid a cent across the board. Polypropylene (PP) prices held steady and offers were limited, but material could be found against buyer requests. PE export orders are shipping, but plenty more material is still waiting to be packaged, complicating Houston area logistics.

Image courtesy Cool Design/freedigitalphotos.net.

Spot PE resin changed hands at a fairly rapid clip as September drew to a close. Material for all major commodity grades was readily available for immediate shipment, and prices eased a penny across the board. Although producers had widely nominated a price increase averaging $0.05/lb for October, it seems highly unlikely that it will be implemented. It is still early in the month, so it is possible that the market could erode further; contracts already declined a total of $0.09/lb between August and September, according to PlasticsExchange data.

Spot PP trading was light, as challenging supply/demand and pricing dynamics again created a difficult trading environment. Even as the month was drawing to a close, there were few fresh railcar offerings, other than widespec, destined for export out of Houston. Prime U.S. PP is not priced competitively for international markets; on the contrary, several U.S. resellers have made prime imported HoPP and CoPP available on both the east and west coasts. PP contracts have been slowly sliding for the past seven months, peeling off about $0.11/lb since March. PP contracts could see a little pop in October, as PGP monomer should, at a minimum, hold steady and resin producers continue to push for margin expansion, reports the PlasticsExchange.

Read the full Market Update on the PlasticsExchange website.

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