chemical Prices

Due to moderate demand, the prices of Polyethylene and Polypropylene rolled over in Saudi Arabia. The Ex-Works Riyadh LDPE prices were observed to be $6168/ton Film grade, $4950/ton for LLDPE injection grade, $4875/ton for HDPE Blow-moulding, and $5850/ton for Polypropylene Raffia grade. The prices were observed to be stagnant to the New Year due to recovering Petrochemical demand and rise in crude oil. Saudi Arabia had increased the crude oil prices sold to Asia and US. The Polymer market seems to be recovered from the previous slow trading atmosphere. India offers opportunities to SABIC in order to grow its Polymer business. India had witnessed strong petrochemical demand recovery from the past few weeks and for the upcoming New Year festive. Polymer demand in the Asian market is projected to grow due to recovering demand in packaging, construction, and industrial segments. Recently, SABIC announced that they had collaborated with Bamberger Polymers to provide customers with its Eng...

The domestic recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (r-PET) market has been going from strength to strength since March, a strong Q2 further catapulted the product among top commodities in the USA. Market participants reported that demand for r-PET has continued to be strong as the virgin PET supply remains constrained in the market. Re-processors and recyclers remarked that given the strong demand, supply has shifted from balanced in mid Q2 to tight in early Q3. Recycled polymers, in general, have gained traction in the US market in terms of demand as key virgin polymers remained tight. Prices of recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (r-PET) were assessed between USD 1540-1590 per MT on FOB basis for clear flakes. ChemAnalyst gathers information through primary research surveys conducted with various R-PET manufacturers, spread across the domestic and international market, suppliers, and dealers/distributors to gain insights into value-chains and demand-supply scenarios to assess the mark...

Toluene prices have started to rise in US and Europe after witnessing a continuous drop since November backed by the tight supplies and surging demand from the downstream fuel and chemical industry. Across the European region, the upstream Naphtha market has been experiencing tightness since last week amid supply restrictions. Delaying cargoes to Northwest Europe from Baltic states as a repercussion of the bad weather in the black sea and winter storms in Russia have been exerting pressure on the domestic traders. Consequently, healthy demand and unavailability of the material on a spot basis in the European Toluene market have resulted in inflation in its pricing trend. The USA Toluene market is now mimicking the European market sentiments as Toluene prices have started recovering after going through a downward trajectory consecutively for three months. An increase in Toluene prices is attributed to the spike in the upstream Benzene values and improvement in the offtakes from the do...

The prices of Butyl Acetate in the Southeast Asian market dropped down this month. In Singapore, the FOB Jurong prices of Butyl Acetate were observed to be $1321/ton with a declination of 8.9%. In Malaysia, the price of Butyl Acetate declined by 6.1% and the prices were hovering around $1304/ton-$1367/ton. In South Korea, the prices were observed to be $800/ton with a month-on-month declination of 10%. The weak demand and sufficient supply created market disruptions as the traders had sufficient existing stock and limited new stocks were being utilized. Upstream Acetic acid and n-butanol prices were also slipped due to declining crude oil and Methanol prices which are responsible for this price trend. Korea Alcohol Industrial (South Korea) and Petronas (Malaysia) had also reduced the prices of Butyl acetate in the domestic market and limited the imports from Singapore and China. Project pricing dynamics for Singapore were also affected as the major players had dropped their Butyl acet...

Mono Ethylene Glycol prices in China have remained under pressure since the beginning of the month due to weakness in values of upstream crude coupled with a slow demand pattern. Pressure over the mounting inventory levels has been exacerbated by the buzz of resumption of coal-based MEG plants in China. Supply of Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) has already been ample since the beginning of Q4 as the majority of buyers sidelined their purchases due to pessimistic demand prospects in the local as well as international market. However, in October, stringent regulations following the dual control policy in China led to a temporary halt in the production of several coal-based MEG plants which in turn provided temporary relief to the inventory piles. As these coal-based MEG plants which were earlier shut, are gradually coming onstream, this has again stressed traders compelling them to allow consistent negotiations to initiate offtakes. MEG plant with a capacity of nearly 200 KTPA in Henan which...

  Recently, the  COVID-19  reemerged in the cities of Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Hangzhou of Zhenjiang province in China. In repercussion, the Shangyu District authority of Shaoxing City issued a set of instructions stating suspension of all industrial operations within the district to restrict the spread of COVID in the eastern provinces of China. The authorities further released a statement regarding the suspension of all operations in non-chemical enterprises along with restricting feed for chemical facilities including any kind of maintenance work. Currently, the decision will likely impact numerous Nutraceuticals and downstream manufacturing facilities including BSM, YongNong Biosciences Ltd., Nutrichem & Yinbang, NHU, Sinochem Lantian, etc. The curtailed operations in some major Nutraceutical facilities will likely to tightened the domestic supply of numerous human and animal nutrition products. However, the impact is majorly concentrated on Biotin, Vitamin A, Vitami...

Isocyanates market continue to stack strong performance and same has been observed in the 4th quarter as well building on the previous quarter pattern. This remarkable performance came on the back of production losses globally and ferociously high demand from the downstream polyurethane (PU) sector throughout the year. Demand for Polyurethane has remained strong throughout the year as the construction sector particularly house refurbishing and other allied sectors have kept un upward pressure on the volumes available in the market. The increasing trend of Work from Home (WFH) in 2021 meant employees leaned towards comfort at home resulting in rising in demand for bedding and soft furnishing at homes. Although the automotive sector has performed underwhelmingly all through the year, increased demand from the construction sector has led to demand growth in polyurethanes and in turn spiked demand for isocyanates. China, a pivotal exporter worldwide, has struggled to keep optimum product...

The prices of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) are expected to rise in China due to supply pressure which will be building up with the announcement of Force Majeure (FM) by Qingdao Haiwan Group on the supplies of PVC from its plant in China. The PVC plant which has undergone an FM has a production capacity of 800 Kilotons per year. The price of Polyvinyl Chloride  was falling this week in China with the prices assessed at USD 1790 per tonne for suspension grade PVC which have fallen from the USD 1830 per tonne levels in the last week of November. The prices are expected to rise by a factor of 5% to 7% in the upcoming week as there will be supply shortages. On the other hand, the demand for PVC from the construction sector in China remains strong. This will also push the prices upwards in the upcoming week. PVC is a polymeric material that has major applications in the construction sector and automotive sector. There are mainly three grades of PVC which include pipe grade, suspension grade,...

Volatility in crude and natural gas in October and November has made its presence felt in the fertilizer market where the fertilizer market has observed remarkable price jumps as natural gas forms a key feedstock for Ammonia and nitrates. The devastation caused by Hurricane Ida and its aftermath forced several plant shutdowns while planned turnarounds meant already long supply tightened further. In the US, Ammonia production plunged in October on the back of curtailed nitrogen output forced by the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida. Not only nitrogen production was curtailed, Florida based Mosaic and Incitec owned Dyno Nobel facilities at Faustina and Waggaman respectively, also went offline in the aftermath of the hurricane severely limiting the ammonia supply. Illinois headquartered CF Industries holdings earlier announced a planned turnaround which concluded in November further rattling supply fundamentals. In the light of the above factors, US ammonia made a steep jump where pric...

European prices for recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) are relentlessly escalating since August as the market seems torn between the high energy costs and jumping conversion costs of R-PET from bottle bale. ChemAnalyst, in the last week of November, assessed the German prices for food-grade R-PET and R-PET flakes at USD 2,270 per tonne and USD 1,770 per tonne respectively, after registering a rise of over 17% from the prices recorded at the close of the 2021-second quarter. The R-PET prices in Europe got fired up due to the market tightness owing to the soaring recycling costs, a huge share of which depends on the costs of virgin PET, which is the raw material used for recycling. Europe’s virgin PET market is under turmoil as the PET prices are skyrocketing throughout the fourth quarter and had reached a record ten-year high in the November start. Subdued PET production on strained import-dependent PTA feedstock availability backed by logistic delays and high freight charges...