Declining PVC and PP from USA compete in global markets

10-Jun-10

Falling feedstock costs and overall weakness in the global PVC market has been pulling down US PVC offers in several major markets since the beginning of May. As per Chemorbis, regional offers to Turkey have retreated by US$100-150/ton, and by US$110-130/ton to Egypt in this month, while import offers have retreated by US$80/ton in China within the same period. Despite falling prices, buyers in Turkey and Egypt are still not tempted to engage in new purchases as they are faced with mounting stock pressure amid unsatisfactory demand. Some prefer to meet their urgent needs locally, while most buyers expect lower prices in line with an anticipated further decrease in Asia for the month of July and lackluster demand. This week lower US offers failed to grab much buy interest in China as well since most market players await to hear major Asian producers’ new offers for the following month before taking their next step. In the PP market, some US cargoes have started to find their way to different export destinations. As anticipated in ChemOrbis Daily News and Factors to Watch stories, the plunging propylene costs in the US were expected to increase the competitive power of US exporters. The number of PP offers of US origin has climbed in recent weeks as some sellers are reportedly relieving their stock pressure at prices mostly forming the low end of the import price ranges given the pessimistic outlook in China’s overall PP market. US PP raffia offers are now being offered US$50-90/ton below levels seen two weeks ago while further decreases are even seen probable by some regional players. In Turkey, PP raffia and BOPP film offers from the US have also shown up in the past two weeks, while in Egypt a sell idea was reported this week for PPBC. Similar to the PVC market, buyers have not been so interested in these cargoes due to the long distance despite the relatively lower levels with respect to the rest of the market. Seeing further decreases on the horizon, buyers are mostly shying away from securing import cargoes these days.