Standard Thermoplastics June 2016: Most PE grades slide / PP pointing down, too / PVC producers still achieve slight margin gains / Styrenics inching up / PET under pressure / Trends expected to uphold in July as well

摘要

PE: In early June, European PE producers launched calls for hikes of up to EUR 50/t, prompted by the EUR 25/t increase in the ethylene contract. However, supported by those suppliers that were offensively granting rebates, many processors were able to ignore these calls. Order activity often ended up below expectations. The reservations became stronger following the "Brexit" vote. The result was a slide for almost all PE types, which was more pronounced for material competing with imports. Solely EVA managed to escape this trend, as a result of the overall tightening tendency. Although July's C2 contract was fixed EUR 10/t higher, thanks to the experience of last year, buyers are quite ironic about feedstock price developments. If they are able to lower prices, they will do so.