Page 66 - Plastic News November 2023

IN THE NEWS

Resin Price Report: Demand Remains Strong, Despite High Interest Rates
of their upward momentum when
crude oil prices declined earlier in
the month, although solid offshore
demand remains for US resin. The
Plastics Exchange said it has not seen
much of an accumulation of unsold
export inventories, as sellers have
been relaxing prices to meet bids
and keep material moving. Producers
have reiterated their intent to enforce
their current $0.03/lb PE increase on
October contracts; to maintain up-
ward pressure, some have nominated
another increase for November.
PP had another solid trading week.
rocessors bought material for Price increases on the table While supplies were not overly abun-
Pshort-term needs and to restock Hurricane season is winding down, dant, material was consistently found
inventories, although relatively high and while it was an active one, storms to meet customer demand.
interest rates kept some from adding stayed out of the petrochemical pro-
to on-hand resin stocks. While propane dehydrogenation
ducing parts of the gulf. There are (PDH) production disruptions have
Spot resin trading ticked up last week, price increases on the table for both impacted the polymer-grade propyl-
but it still fell short of the fervent pace PE and PP resins, and though it's late ene (PGP) market, PP has also seen
seen during the first half of October, in the month, October resin contracts its fair share of issues. Total is on track
reports the PlasticsExhange in its have yet to settle. Implementation of to restart one of its copolymer PP
Market Update. Material availability the third straight $0.03/lb PE increase lines in Texas next week, but the P66
improved a little and some special is facing steep resistance, while PP plant in Bayway, NJ, continues to face
month-end opportunities were suffi- contracts will see another cost-push a monomer feedstock shortage. For
cient to trim back prices at the Plas- increase take hold. the second straight month, PP con-
ticsExchange trading desk by as much Most PE resins drop half-cent tracts are increasing along with PGP
as a penny for some polyethylene (PE) monomer costs.
and polypropylene (PP) grades. The PE market saw an uptick in ac-
tivity, as the flow of railcar offers in- While October contracts have yet
Demand has been robust through- creased, including some nicely dis- to settle, the cost-push hike should
out October, as processors procured counted material into the end of the be something close to the $0.045/lb
material for short-term needs and to month. Film grades led the way last seen in September, which would leave
selectively restock their drawn-down week, and linear-low-density PE more upside for November, as well.
inventories. However, some still com- edged out low-density PE in terms Although processor demand has been
ment that relatively high interest rates of transacted volume. Most PE resins consistent, there has been some re-
are keeping a lid on their on-hand were steady to a half-cent lower, re- sistance to advancing prices. As such,
resin stocks. Export requests contin- lieving a little of the recent price ad- average PP prices eased a half-cent
ued to flow into the PlasticsExchange vances, while high-molecular-weight this past week, as supplier desire for
trading desk — the highest volumes film grade slid a full cent as supplies resin sales overshadowed the need to
went to Europe, Mexico, and South improved, said the Plastics Exchange. secure every last bit of margin.
America.
International PE prices lost some

66 PLASTICS NEWSASTICS NEWS November 2023
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