Discounts seen on polyolefin prices in Middle East as October advances

Players operating in Africa and the Middle East report that Middle Eastern PP and PE prices, which were announced for October cargoes at steady to higher levels, in line with previous expectations, saw some discounts as the month proceeds. Weak buying interest was pointed to as the main reason behind these discounts. In some of these markets, where the October price hikes came much higher than the expected increase amounts, such downward adjustments were already expected as reported on www.ChemOrbis.com. A major Saudi Arabian producer initially issued their October PP prices to Egypt with US$60-90/ton increases and PE prices with US$70-120/ton hikes. However, players receiving these levels were a bit surprised by the amount of increases, which pulled the Saudi producer’s offers to the high end of the overall import Middle Eastern range. “The new offer levels are just too high to accept when considering the still weakly performing demand,” a converter had previously complained. After seeing resistance from the market, the Saudi producer issued some discounts of US$20/ton on all of their PP and PE offers given to Egypt as per ChemOrbis pricing service. Last week, a converter claimed to have achieved larger decreases from this particular producer, indicating up to three digit declines for PP raffia and injection. The buyer added, “Despite their reductions, the producer’s homo-PP prices are still not very competitive as we can find offers US$60-70/ton below their levels.” In Lebanon, players also received rollovers to increases from the Middle Eastern producers. However, during last week, an end product manufacturer operating in the country reported concluding deals with US$30/ton decreases from a major Saudi producer from their initial October levels. “Import offers recorded increases at the beginning of the month but then they started to record decreases again. We feel confused about the possible future trend and therefore, we continue to limit our purchases to our needs,” highlighted the buyer. In Jordan, a major Saudi Arabian producer had initially approached the market with US$50-70/ton increases for PE and US$50/ton hikes for homo-PP. Last week, players operating in the country started to report achieving discounts from the producer’s initial October levels. A converter remarked, “We made small HDPE film purchases from the Saudi producer with US$30/ton decreases from their initial offers.” Another converter also confirmed receiving October HDPE film offers from the Saudi producer with discounts. “Overall demand remains below average and players are expecting considerable discounts when concluding deals. At the moment, we remain cautious about purchases,” he further added.