27-Apr-17 European spot cracker margins have managed to sustain values this month, climbing a marginal 0.2% since the beginning of April, to be assessed Monday at Eur902.51/mt (about US$983/mt), as per Platts. The firmness comes amid softening prices for naphtha, European crackers' primary feedstock. Naphtha prices have fallen 4.8% since the start of the month, to be assessed Monday at US$451.50/mt CIF NWE.
Also supporting firm margins are a number of European cracker units scheduled to be taken offline for maintenance. Approximately 7% of European cracker capacity is scheduled to come offline simultaneously, while 11% of total European capacity is slated for turnaround across the maintenance period running from March through September.
