ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) up 3.6% in May

06 May 2008 21:43  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) for May rose to 319.55, a gain of 3.6% over the April reading of 308.41 and the second steepest percentage increase during the last 12 months.

Upstream costs of crude oil and natural gas have continued to ride high, driving up the cost of petrochemical feedstock and putting upward pressure on pricing throughout chemical chains.

Of the 12 products in the IPEX portfolio, 10 posted increases.

The largest jump was in butadiene (BD), up by 14%. Butadiene was up in all regions, but particularly in the US and in Asia due to firm demand, tight supply and high costs for raw materials.

Toluene was another major mover, gaining 8.2% in response to rising energy prices. 

Other significant gains were in ethylene, up by 6.3%, and propylene, up by 5.3%.

The only index components to decline in May were methanol, down 10%, and benzene, down 0.5%.

Methanol values have been sliding in response to better supply and sluggish demand, particularly in the US where prices were down by 17.9% for May.

Published at the beginning of each month, the IPEX provides an independent indicator of average change in world petrochemical prices.

Dating back to January 1993, historical ICIS prices for a basket of 12 essential petrochemical grades in the US, western Europe and the northeast Asian markets have been weighted by regional nameplate capacity to generate a monthly index value.

The IPEX product basket comprises ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, paraxylene (PX), styrene, methanol, BD, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS).

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