European chemicals players concerned about potential impacts of higher import duties on PE, PP from Gulf Cooperation Council; buyers of LLDPE more concerned than HDPE buyers because 90% of LLDPE imported mainly from Middle East

Allison Oesterle

January 6, 2014 (ICIS Chemical Business (CBNB Abstracts)) – European industry players are concerned about the potential impact of the increase in import duty rates from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC ) countries on the prices of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). The import duty will be raised from 3% to 6.5% when the rate increase is implemented on 1 Jan 2014. Buyers of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) are more concerned than their counterparts in the high density polyethylene (HDPE) sector because about 90% of LLDPE C4 (butene based) is imported mainly from the Middle East. Another price concern is the increase in feedstock naphtha prices, which closed at a 10-month high at $982-984/tonne CIF (cost insurance freight) NWE (northwest Europe) on 3 Dec 2014. A graph shows the changes in spot FD NWE prices (EUR/tonne) of polyolefins, specifically homopolymer injection polypropylene (PP) and GP film LDPE, in Europe from Dec 2012 to Dec 2013. Original Source: ICIS Chemical Business, http://www.icis.com/, Copyright Reed Business Information Limited 2013.

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