Sellers seek increases for Polystyrene in Europe

17-May-10

In Europe, May styrene contract fell by €5/ton (US$6/ton) to €1145/ton (US$1443/ton) amid lower spot styrene prices, which lost US$50/ton since the beginning of May falling to US$1355/ton FOB NWE basis late last week. Despite this, sellers are seeking increases both for spot and Gentlemen’s Agreements as per Chemorbis. Despite lower feedstock costs and poor demand in the region, the overall May hike targets in Italy are pronounced at €30-50/ton due to the ongoing supply issues in Europe. Some sellers in the country report selling out their quotas while adding that they managed to achieve their hike targets. Meanwhile, such statements are also confirmed by buyers, as converters pronounce their worries regarding supply issues since they fear not being able to find materials in the upcoming days. For this reason the price hikes have been accepted up until now. Consequently, the spot market has moved higher this month for both GPPS and HIPS. Meanwhile, Gentlemen’s Agreements have started to settle with €20-30/ton increases for GPPS despite some earlier bids for rollovers. For the future expectancies, the Italian PS market is anticipated to remain mostly steady for the rest of the month at the current higher levels since the tight supply situation offsets the lower upstream costs and still not encouraging end product demand.