Producers win triple-digit hikes after costs surge

摘要

After falling since the middle of last year, European standard thermoplastic prices rebounded sharply last month. Producers pushed through margin-extending price increases following a large upswing in petrochemical feedstock costs, better demand and tightening supply. Crude oil prices rose from just less than $50/barrel to around $65/barrel during the month of February. As a result, March petrochemical feedstock contract prices were settled at a substantially higher level. Sty-rene monomer led the way with an astonishingly high ?175/ tonne leap in the March contract price. The ethylene and propylene contract prices saw respective gains of ?100/tonne and ?105/tonne.