ChemOrbis Monthly Polymer Report Polyethylene (PE) NorthWest Europe January 2019

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PE – North West Europe General Outlook

Spot Monthly Prices Local Market

PE prices retreat further in January

(FD NWE €/ton) Polymer

Highlights  PE January business closed with reductions of €20-40/ton  Jan monomer contract price down €40/ton  Spot ethylene gained about €45/ton  PE demand revived in second half Jan  Supply remains ample  LLDPE breaks €1000/ton threshold  PE February prices expected stable to firmer

Prices

HDPE Film

1100 - 1180

HDPE BM

1080 - 1180

HDPE Inj.

1080 - 1160

LDPE Film

1000 - 1100

LLDPE C4 Film

990 - 1090

Feedstocks Crude Oil WTI USD/bbl

Crude Oil Brent USD/bbl

Naphtha CFR Japan

Naphtha CIF NWE

19-04

53

62

490

459

19-03

52

61

494

461

General Outlook

19-02

51

60

475

455

In North West Europe, initial offers for January PE were issued with reductions of €20-40/ton versus December prices, due to the drop of €40/ton on the monomer contract price for January, settled at €985/ton. In the spot market the monomer lost initially some ground but inverted the trend by midJanuary, finding support from the upstream costs and a bullish Asian market. The overall monthly gain for the spot ethylene since the end of December is about €45/ton, touching €795-800/ton at the end of January. After a slow start, PE demand recovered when many large-scale buyers considered whether to buy or not some extra cargoes ahead of rumors about a possible rebound in the near term. LLDPE prices, meanwhile, broke the €1000/ton threshold for the first time in years, pulled down by lower January ethylene contracts and weak fundamentals on top of available imports from US. No major production issue for PE to be reported, although FM was declared at 2 crackers in Italy and Germany. January deals were closed with decreases of €20-40/ton compared to the previous month. February expectations for PE prices are mainly centered on a stable to firmer trend. Players feel that PE prices have reached the bottom level after a stable to softer trend that started in early June 2018.

19-01

47

56

449

441

18-52

45

52

463

442

500

65

490

60

480

55

470

50

460

45

450 440

40

430

35

420

30 24/12

31/12

07/01

14/01

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S H A N G H A I

| K U A L A

L U M P U R

21/01

Week Start Date Crude Oil - WTI USD/bbl

Crude Oil - Brent USD/bbl

Naphtha CFR - Japan

Naphtha CIF - NWE

Ethylene Monomer Spot Wk. N. 19-05

CFR-FEA Weekly 1040

FD-USG Average 390

FD-NWE (USD/ton) 910

19-04

1010

410

900

19-03

890

420

880

19-02

870

400

850

19-01

920

400

840

Abbreviations: NWE: Northwest Europe, USG: United States Gulf, FEA: Far East Asia Note: Indicative prices are given based on latest available figures. Prices are translated to USD/mton and with the exception of naphtha have been rounded to the nearest ten. Crude and naphtha prices represent weekly averages up to the date of publication.

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www.chemorbis.com I S T A N B U L

Crude Oil USD/bbl

Wk. N.

Naphtha USD/mton

January 2019

Monthly Report

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C A I R O

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M I L A N

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M I A M I

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M O S C O W


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