Mid-Eastern PP, PE revealed higher for Aug in Turkey, Egypt

01-Aug-12

Middle Eastern suppliers have revealed their PP and PE prices to Turkish and Egyptian markets for August with price increases on the back of firmer costs, as per ChemOrbis. Turkish buyers do not think that further increases are likely for the near term in the midst of Ramadan while Egyptian buyers expect a downward revision in one of the regional producers’ initial offers. A major Saudi Arabian producer has started to offer PP raffia to Turkey with US$100-110/ton increases over July. Another Saudi Arabian producer’s August offers indicate US$70-80/ton increases over July for PP raffia and US$30/ton increases for PP fibre. As for PE, a converter reported receiving new prices from a regional producer with increases of nearly US$100/ton for August. “We expect prices to remain at these levels since demand may slow down due to Ramadan,” another converter who received higher offers for this origin commented. A global producer announced their Middle Eastern HDPE film prices with US$70-100/ton increases from their most recently reported prices in early July, as well. Turkish buyers are reporting some delays from the region, particularly for cargoes to be delivered by truck, as the Syrian border has been closed, as per ChemOrbis. Now that feedstock costs remain firm, buyers feel that the upward trend is supported. However, they do not think that any further increase attempts will materialize due to slower market conditions stemming from Ramadan and the upcoming holiday. When looking at Egypt, a major regional producer has approached the market with US$110-170/ton hikes for PP offers and US$100-120/ton hikes for LDPE film offers. As for LLDPE film and HDPE film, the producer is seeking respective increases of US$80-120/ton and US$10-60/ton. Egyptian buyers have been caught by surprise with these large hike requests as other producers from the Middle East are asking for relatively smaller increases, as per ChemOrbis. Two different regional producers are seeking price hikes ranging from US$10-50/ton for PE and from US$40/ton to US$90/ton for PP. Hence, buyers commented, “We believe that the producer will need to revise its three digit hike requests downward in order to be able to compete.”