Engineering Thermoplastics December 2018: Slump in automobile production is reflected in prices/Significant decline with PC/PMMA also starts to slide/Downward trend could intensify in January

摘要

In December 2018,the slump in the automotive industry hit the European markets for engineering thermoplastics.In addition to the commodity-related ABS and PP compounds,prices of polycarbonate materials in particular fell considerably.With PMMA,too,the pressure exerted by customers to win price cuts was simply too great for European producers to keep prices stable despite their intentions.On the other hand,rather surprisingly,POM and PA 6 producers managed to do just that.The latter were helped in this - as so often lately -by the effects of the still precarious situation of sister product PA 6.6,even though market overlaps are relatively small.In contrast,PBT suppliers managed to push through price increases,thus at least partly compensating for the higher feedstock costs.