LOS ANGELES
,
August 12, 2022
(Industry Intelligence Inc.)
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US Resins Spot prices for both PE and PP resins for the first week of August continued their downward trend seen in July as sluggish demand met plentiful supply. Spot PE trading started August with slightly more activity than July, but prices nevertheless lost US$0.01/lb. Negative market sentiment persists among producers, who expect another contract decrease to follow spot prices downward. In addition, ample supply has only been augmented by slow export activity, along with even more capacity poised to come online before the end of 2022. PP saw an average trading pace for the week, with prices declining by a few more cents. Processors are confident that lower prices will persist, given the abundance of off-grade resin offers. The primary source of this information is Plastics Today. Commodity petrochemical and polymer prices broadly declined worldwide, pressured by economic woes in China, geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and murmurs of an impending recession, according to the latest monthly ICIS Petrochemical Index. The global index fell 8%, based on the prices of 12 commodity petrochemicals and polymers. Northeast Asia saw a particularly sharp decrease in prices. In addition, leading indicators suggest prices will decline even further, placing pressure on the margins of major chemical players. In the US and Europe, key aromatics chemicals prices fell steeply in August, correcting from highs seen in June. The primary source of this information is Plastics Today. US Chemical Trends Chemicals trading increased in June with exports up 2.3%, while imports fell 4.6% on the month, according to the American Chemistry Council’s weekly trends report. Wholesale chemicals trading fell by 0.5% in June, while inventories increased 2.7%. However, both trading and inventories increased 24.6% year-over-year. Meanwhile, chemical producer prices held flat in July after seeing monthly gains for more than two years. Chemical prices increased 16.1% year-over-year with gains across all segments. Similarly, import prices increased 16.1% year-over-year, but fell 0.6% for the month of July. The primary source of this information is The American Chemistry Council.
Global Petrochemicals
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