Low end US PVC prices becoming scarce in the Mediterranean

13-Jul-11

According to players in Egypt and Turkey, low end prices for American PVC are beginning to disappear from the import market as sellers pull their prices up, as per ChemOrbis. US PVC prices in this region had been trading well below offers to China, aiding US sellers to push for higher prices in the Mediterranean. The lowest PVC prices had ebbed below theoretical levels based on producing PVC from spot VCM and adding estimated freight rates to the Mediterranean. Additionally, American suppliers started to see greater buying interest from markets in India, North Africa and Latin America, due to some sellers’ competitive pricing. This week has seen an increasing number of reports from Egypt that sellers of US origins are either holding onto their current prices or raising offers from last week. Traders attributed this increase to the improved demand in China after last week’s increases in oil prices. Egypt, where US origin has become the main supply source for the past few months due to lack of Asian origins, saw the absolute lowest US PVC prices last week compared to the prices for this same origin in Turkey and China. This week, the US offers reported from Egypt so far are US$30-70/ton higher than last week’s offers. PVC players in Turkey also reported that American origins are beginning to firm up at the lower end of the import price ranges. Lower priced American PVC imports are said to be increasingly scarce, with a converter reporting that he was able to find at least US$50/ton lower prices in the import market for American origin last week.