Mediterranean markets see more European LDPE, lower Turkish offers

Mediterranean PE markets including Turkey and Egypt started to welcome more European LDPE offers following the Eid holiday due to the approaching holidays in Europe. The approaching holiday season in Europe contribute to the already slow demand in the region, triggered by concerns regarding the region’s debt crisis, as per ChemOrbis. The November ethylene contracts which settled lower and the influx of lower cost non-European cargoes to the country caused European producers to concede to decreases on their PE prices in order to ensure their sales. Most European buyers are restricting purchases ahead of the approaching holidays and the year-end, given their financial issues along with poor end-product businesses. In Egypt, South European LDPE film offers resurfaced in the market after they were last reported in mid-October. Two different regional producers are offering to the market while a seller offering at the high end of the overall range believes that the upcoming holidays in Europe will not cause any real softening on prices. However, he admits that their offer level does not see any buying interest as there are lower options available for buyers from Middle Eastern and Turkish sources. Meanwhile, the other European producer’s offer remains stable from their most recent offer levels last reported in the second half of October. The Turkish PE market also welcomed more European origins from West and South European sources this past week when compared to the pre-holiday period. West European origins are forming the high end of the European range while the South European offers are standing at the lower end of the range, as per ChemOrbis. A trader offering West European LDPE reported seeing better demand after the Eid holiday while a trader who received lower South European LDPE film offers reported looking for some materials to purchase. According to him, lower import prices, slow demand and the ample availability are putting downward pressure on the domestic Turkish producer. Justifying such expectations, Turkish LDPE film offers continue to lose ground in other markets. In Egypt, Turkish LDPE film prices continued to move down as they retreated noticeably following the holidays. A buyer who received these offers commented that the Turkish LDPE film prices are competitive when compared to the prevailing offers from the regular Middle Eastern sources. Meanwhile, in Italy, a stretch film converter purchased Turkish LDPE film at lower levels from October and a packaging converter reported receiving an offer for the same origin at a discounted level.