Octal stops offering PET to European buyers until January

29-Nov-12

Oman's Octal Petrochemicals has stopped offering polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to European consumers for December, as per market sources reported in Platts. As per few unconfirmed sources, the producer had contacted buyers to inform about postponing availability of PET until January, while another opined that Octal had declared force majeure at its 1 mln tpa PET plant in Salalah. The reduction in availability appears to have enabled European PET producers to push up prices, with European spot prices assessed Eur10/mt (US$13/mt) higher week on week. As per a European producer, "It's good because it warns our customers not to rely too much on material from overseas."