Resin and Plastics Pricing Still Weak!

"resin markets activity increased as the week wore"

"General resin market sentiment was bearish given the overwhelmingly negative movement in world equity, energy and commodity markets."

"The Ethylene market was only lightly traded and prices were softer as the 2016 market got underway."

"Polyethylene trading began to heat up again as participants returned from vacations."

"Processors have had little fear that the 4th attempt at the $.05/lb increase would find any traction in Jan, and indeed, several producers already pushed the increase back to Feb."

"However, given the bearish state of the energy and feedstock markets and the huge discount that the Houston PE market holds to domestic prices, we do not think that a rollover will cut it again in Jan."

"In order to better reflect current Polyethylene market conditions and spot domestic railcar pricing, we feel that a contract decrease of $.03 -.05/lb is reasonable this month."

Trade News January 2016

"The $.05/lb price increase failed for the third time in December; however, considering sharply lower energy and feedstock costs, processors are seeking actual relief rather than just continued contract price rollovers. Although technically producers will begin the year with the nickel increase again on the table, perhaps contracts will begin to go the other way. In the meantime, the combination of year end inventory adjustments and weak international PE markets have generated deeply discounted spot buying opportunities."

The start of a new year means the beginning of another round of scheduled maintenance turnarounds in ethylene plants. Nearly one third of the 52 operational ethylene units located across North America are preparing for more than 660 days of planned down time during 2016. Additionally, an estimated 4.5 billion pounds of new ethylene capacity is scheduled to come online before the year ends. As such, 2016 is destined to be a busy year for this sector of the Chemical Industry.
Trade Report January 2016

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