Europe Nov BPA set to roll over on steady market

19 October 2007 18:26  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--European bis phenol-A (BPA) contract prices are likely to roll over on strong fundamentals in November, although the possibility of slight decreases was not ruled out in some cases, market sources said on Friday.

There was no reason to accept any decreases for freely negotiated business in November, said one seller, stating that market fundamentals remained strong in both Europe and Asia and outweighed the slight drop in feedstock costs in October.

Buyers particularly at the upper end of the price range, however, were optimistic that they could push for a slight decrease based on the softer raw material costs in October and sufficient supply in Europe.

At least one main BPA plant was running at reduced rates due to upstream phenol constraints and this was seen to strengthen the sellers’ argument to roll prices over into November.

October BPA prices were assessed at €1,460-1,530/tonne ($2,086-2,186/tonne) FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), down €20/tonne at the low end from the September range, by global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

Some concessions were already made as a goodwill gesture in October to acknowledge the recently softer feedstock numbers, said one seller, but the source was adamant that it would not repeat this in November, stating that it would not reflect the strong market fundamentals.

($1 = €0.70)

By: Heidi Finch
+44 20 8652 3214

< previous article(ICIS Chemical Business podcast November 2, 2009)

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