The European ethylene market have been steady on news of likely fresh supply from Iran upon easing of sanctions in response to a deal with global powers on its nuclear program, as per Platts. "Let us see how much product there will really be on offer ex-Iran and when," a trader said, adding Iran was tight on ethylene itself as capacity was idle.
The EU imported over 100,000 mt of Iranian ethylene in 2010 and 2011. Ethylene's biggest derivative, low density PE, also saw imports from Iran top 100,000 mt in 2010 and 2011.
The EU banned petrochemical imports from Iran in January 2012.
Iranian producers are likely to begin supply of product six months after lifting up of sanctions. The price of northwest European ethylene is likely to return to a premium over Mediterranean ethylene on the back of renewed Iranian exports. On Friday, ethylene CIF NWE and CIF Med were trading at parity, at US$1200-1205/mt. In 2011 and 2012, CIF NWE carried an average premium of around US$30/mt over CIF Med values. The premium started falling on the lack of Iranian product and, more recently, as Libyan capacity has been out of the market.
26-Nov-13 
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