Italy’s PVC market mostly stable, falling ethylene dampens August outlook

14-Jul-15

Moderate price increases continue to be reported in Italy’s PVC market on a monthly basis and some suppliers started to sell out their allocations for July, as per ChemOrbis. According to players, availability has improved relatively over the past months while it is still not comfortable. Buyers are making purchases mostly on a needs only basis due to the upcoming summer holidays in August when they will suspend their end product output for at least two weeks. In addition to the approaching holidays, weak expectations for the medium term, stemming from the bearish ethylene outlook, are another factor behind cautious purchasing activities in the PVC market. Spot ethylene prices on an FD NWE basis declined further by €30/ton week over week, weighed down by cracker restarts. A South European producer sold out his July PVC allocation with small hikes of €5/ton from their latest June deals. A producer source commented, “Even though buyers are purchasing on a hand to mouth basis ahead of August, our sales were rather smooth this month. We project a stabilization for the upcoming month, when the majority of the buyers will be away from the market due to the summer holidays.” A distributor sold out his Central European PVC allocation up €5-10/ton from June. The seller reported holding shorter availability for k70 and k58 compared to other grades and added that he is unsure whether he will manage to procure extra volumes from his supplier for this month. Another distributor is continuing to give July offers for West European PVC with increases of €20/ton from June, but said that he is yet to conclude any deals at these levels. The seller commented that supply is still limited in the PVC market, but added that he might consider revising his prices in case of resistance from buyers. A pipe producer received initial July offers with increases of €20/ton from Inovyn, but said that he is hoping to close his deals with rollovers. The buyer reported making purchases on a needs only basis and commented that supply for k67 has relatively improved over the past few months. A compounder received July offers with small increases of €10/ton from different West European suppliers. However, the buyer still hasn’t made any purchases for this month as he is avoiding buil