October Mid-Eastern PE prices revealed to Turkey, Egypt

Middle Eastern suppliers issued their new PE prices for October to Turkey and Egypt, both of which are set to celebrate the Eid holiday soon, as per ChemOrbis. The latest levels indicated some drops in Turkey and rollovers in Egypt with respect to September levels. In Turkey, initial PE offers from regional sources represented decreases between US$10-30/ton month over month. Several packaging converters reported that they received new LLDPE c4 film and HDPE film prices from a Middle Eastern major with respective decreases of US$10-20/ton and US$30/ton this week. “We had to make an urgent purchase this week since we will not be able to purchase next week due to the holiday. We expect to obtain slightly lower prices from the producer right after the holiday," he said. On the sellers’ side, players think that the downturn may come to an end following the holiday. “The PE market will stabilize after the Eid holiday as the bottom is near,” opined a source at a Middle Eastern producer.In Egypt, a trader reported, “We received unchanged PE prices from a Middle Eastern producer, unlike previous market expectations. We heard that another regional producer will roll over their October prices. However, prices are deemed high.” A distributor offering on behalf of a Middle Eastern supplier rolled over offers for October shipments, saying that up to US$10/ton discounts could be obtainable. "Our October allocations are about 25% less than the normal level. We’re facing resistance from our customers regarding our rollover decision since they were anticipating decreases,” he commented. He attributed the rollover decisions that came from several producers to lack of sufficient availability, but added that they may issue discounts of up to US$20/ton similar to the past month. A source from a Middle Eastern producer said they decided to ask for rollovers as they expected a major supplier to reveal flat prices for the month. “We already paid rollovers for a regional origin. This month, our supplier’s availability is adequate while our end business is not doing great ahead of the holiday. We hope to see a revival afterwards now that the majority of players started to go to the sidelines recently,” a converter mentioned. According to ChemOrbis, another buyer commented, “The prevailing price levels are too high and are seeing resistance. We believe that suppliers should concede to lower deals in order to cope with current market conditions.” He further stated that there are other Middle Eastern producers offering lower prices in limited quotas but that they can’t meet all of the market’s needs.