Offers for February PP in Italy post three digit increases

01-Feb-10

Following the €50-100/ton increases that materialized in January, sellers are now asking for new hikes of €100-120/ton for February gaining support from the monthly propylene contract settlement, as per Chemorbis. A couple of traders reported their sell ideas for different West European and Hungarian origins at €1110-1140/ton for homo PP and €1160-1190/ton for PP block copolymer FD North Italy, 90 days deferred payment. They said that they raised their prices by €100-120/ton in line with their regional suppliers although one of them is a little skeptical about achieving their full hike targets by the end of the negotiations. A South European producer also started to offer for February at €1070/ton for homo PP and €1110-1120/ton for PP block copolymer FD North Italy, 60 days deferred payment. PP demand is not very strong in Italy. Although the February increases are imminent, buyers did not make active pre-buying due to their poorly performing end product markets. Despite the low demand, the PP market is moving higher on the heels of the upstream costs. While homo PP offers below €1000/ton are expected to wane at the low end, the high end of the homo PP range is also expected to breach €1100/ton.