North America December 2011: Quiet end to the year / Struggles over hikes for indexed PE / PP tending slightly downward / PVC and styrene have bottomed out/ Engineering plastics still weak/ Benzene makes a comeback

摘要

Towards the end of last year, North American polyethylene producers drew a line in the sand in an effort to improve their margins, announcing a USD 110/t (about EUR 85/t) price hike for indexed PE orders at the end of November 2011. As opposed to approaching these calls as a base for price discussions, many resorted to simply sending out the relevant bills before Christmas. As the holidays approached, few sales representatives were left in the office to handle the resultant customer calls, who had to contend themselves with the message "The person you have called is temporarily unavailable".