Quick Packaging News

The Polyethylene market kept its active trading pace supported by a small step up in demand. There were relatively heavy offerings of wide spec railcars, while prime material was made available from resellers looking to dish off a portion of their forecasted commitments.  Most PE grades dropped another penny with the exception of LLDPE Film, which managed to hold flat on the week. As expected, contract prices for Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) came in flat at the end of April. The settlement for the month was not delayed like previous months. Not to say the settlement was any less contentious, but in the final days of April, producers made the decision easier by deciding to push the proposed $0.05 increase for April to May. Looking at the supply and demand for the month, both buyers and suppliers have good reasons to press their cases. Buyers push for lower prices was dominated by talk of soft domestic demand, declining production cash costs, enhanced production capa...

Polyethylene (LLDPE) hexene contact pricing moved up $0.03/lb. for the month of March. Producers had asked for $0.05/lb., but as the month concluded, they conceded their higher cost demands settling for the $0.03. Once the market settled, the producers announced future increases of $0.05/lb. proposed for April. The primary factor driving the most recent increase was yet another announced supply reduction. On March 21st, 2023, Nova Chemical declared force majeure stating their ethylene cracker in the Sarnia, ON region experienced an unplanned outage, limiting feedstock monomer to regional PE plants. This made Nova the latest of four producers to declare a force majeure in 2023, joining INEOS, CP Chem, and Formosa. Under normal circumstances, polyethylene prices would be soaring amid these production disruptions, but 2023 has not been a normal year.   Softer than expected demand has plagued the market since the middle of December. Some market watchers have pointed to recessionary...

 July CDI report estimates that the PE grades are down $.03 Nova declared this morning Force Majeure on hexene LLDPE grades due to their hexene monomer supplier having an unplanned outage. The extent and duration of this outage is still not known, but it will tighten up a grade that was already very tight. More info from www.quickpakinc.com