PE prices to soften but margins may grow - analyst

17 April 2007 09:54  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Polyethylene (PE) prices were forecast to decline in the next three years in tandem with falling crude prices, a global trader said on Tuesday.

 

“But margins for PE producers are likely to improve as PE prices

are unlikely to fall as steeply as ethylene,” said Aaron Yap, a senior

trader at Integra.

 

He was speaking at the 3rd ICIS Asian Polymers conference in Shanghai.

 

The waning influence of PE on feedstock ethylene and vice-versa

coincided with the increasing correlation between crude and PE, said

Yap.

 

“However, polypropylene and propylene are still tied very

closely together,” he added.

 

Despite increasing PE supply since 2005, prices were not expected to fall very steeply as demand was expected to remain strong, he said.

 

The two-day conference ends on Tuesday.

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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