SABIC aims €25/t higher for April LDPE/LLDPE

27 March 2008 18:12  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) intends to raise low density and linear low density polyethylene (LDPE/LLDPE) by €25/tonne ($40/tonne) in April, a company source reported on Thursday.

“We aim to increase prices by €25/tonne in Europe, except in the UK where we want to bring prices back up to the same level as on the continent,” the source said.

LDPE prices settled at a rollover to slightly down in March, while LLDPE levels were firm.

LDPE gross prices were all still well above €1,300/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), and LLDPE prices were approaching similar levels in some cases.

LLDPE would normally trade at a €50/tonne discount to LDPE but recent outages and fewer imports have led to a finely balanced market.

Another PE producer intimated that it would be seeking higher prices to cover the €15/tonne hike in second-quarter ethylene but no firm announcement had yet been made.

The PE market was acknowledged to be nervous by many players as demand slowed and record high prices continued to put converters under pressure.

Converters generally did not expect much change in April PE pricing but many had not yet fully settled for March and were not yet considering next month’s business.

PE producers in Europe include INEOS Polyolefins, LyondellBasell, Borealis, Total Petrochemicals, SABIC, Polimeri Europa, Repsol and Dow.

($1 = €0.63)

For more on PE visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Linda Naylor
+44 20 8652 3214

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