Rouble depreciation: Long-term contracts give shelter/ Sergey Komyshan, head of Sibur's Basic Polymers unit

摘要

The rouble's depreciation is having a dual effect on Russia's polymer market. While the falling rouble has led to a partial shrinking of internal market capacity and boosted exports in some cases, the weakening currency is also facilitating import substitution. In the wake of unavoidable market volatility, Russian feedstock producers have been less concerned by daily exchange rate fluctuations, instead maintaining flat rouble-denominated domestic sales prices throughout the fall. While the Russian currency has weakened by more than 30% since September 2014, LDPE and PP prices have changed only marginally. Generally, declining feedstock prices and the resulting decrease of more than 25 % in global polymer prices have pulled domestic prices down. However, devaluation sustained the prices in rouble equivalent at the pre-crisis level.