Where are resin prices headed?

Spotted at the recent Chinaplas show were the results of a straw poll of sales reps at a leading Japanese trading house predicting where the China polyolefins market would find itself in July.

Heading the pricing predictions for July was LDPE with expectations in the $1450-1610/tonne range. LDPE is indeed, short, with many lines in the region preferring to manufacture the more lucrative EVA, which has of late hit $3250 for hot melt grade, $3300 for solar encapsulant grade, and $2850-2900 for the more humble foam grade,

Where will LLDPE be in July this year? Perhaps somewhere between $1250 and $1350 according to our trading experts. HDPE may be up there around the same mark: at $1250-1360 or so. PP is also forecast to remain a costly resin at somewhere between $1480 and $1620.‑[email protected]