Ample supplies and slow demand push down LDPE prices in Turkey

17-Oct-11

In Turkey, local producer Petkim started the month of October with US$25/ton decreases on LDPE film prices vs most recent September prices, while maintaining HDPE prices at early August levels, as per ChemOrbis. LDPE film prices are under greater downward pressure given the persistently bearish demand and ample supplies in the local market when compared with the other PE products including HDPE and LLDPE film. Prompt supplies are reported to be limited for HDPE and LLDPE film, leading to rather stable offer levels for these particular products. During this past week, the locally held LDPE film offer range remained stable on the high end while it softened by US$10/ton at the low end on ex-Turkey, cash inc VAT and duty if applicable basis. A distributor who cut his prices by US$10/justified this with thin buying interest. Apart from this slight softening, the number of offers for LDPE film below the US$1900/ton threshold increased during this past week with respect to the previous week. Most sellers in the local market complain about the lackluster demand for LDPE film and players comment that the local producer might down adjust their prices when considering the weak demand and ample supplies. Looking at other Mediterranean markets, namely Egypt, Turkish LDPE film offers have started to be offered more regularly for the past two weeks. In this market, where the regular Middle Eastern producers revealed stable to firmer October prices against expectancies, Turkish LDPE film offers started to show up as the most competitive choice, forming the low end of the overall import offer range even after the Middle Eastern producers adjusted their prices down to generate some buying interest. Last week, Turkish LDPE film offers were reported at US$50-100/ton lower levels when compared to the previous week while an Egyptian buyer, who received an offer at the low end of the Turkish LDPE film range, claimed that there are even lower offer levels present for this particular origin than the prevailing range. However, he added that those figures are offered in return for firm bids.