North America March 2013: Producers manage to hike PE notations / January price move cripples PP sales as notations continue to fall/ PVC drive slowing down / PS still stable / Engineering thermoplastics tread water

摘要

After PE producers were forced to shelve their February calls for increases of USD 88/t (EUR 68/t), they managed to push through many of them in April. The main reason for this success was their unified stance, PIE cooperation partner RTi (Fort Worth, Texas / USA; www. resinpros.com) explains. Faced with their February failure, producers limited output by 11 %, and also kept the trade channel undersupplied in March. Domestic sales also contracted by 12%. One supplier called for a renewed USD 88/t (USD 0.04/lb) hike for April. However, RTi predicts prices will most likely roll over, adding that the North American market remains subdued as numerous processors exercise restraint. Both the Asian and European markets remain weak, lowering the arbitrage window.