European epoxy prices spike by €160/tonne on short feedstocks

30 March 2010 23:59  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Epoxy resin contracts for April jumped by €160/tonne ($216/tonne) due to low upstream availability, sources said on Tuesday.

“There is very little material and customers are looking for product, so we are showing no mercy,” said one producer.

April values were assessed at €2,250-2,360 FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe) for liquid epoxy resins (LER), according to data from global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

Producers had been looking for even bigger hikes of €300/tonne due to high upstream bisphenol-A (BPA) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) prices.

However these ambitions were largely fought by epoxy buyers, which felt that prices would fall back by the third quarter.

“This is just a power play by (European) producers. Their high prices are not sustainable and will start to fall back by July,” one buyer said.

After months of being deprived of competitive material from Asia due to high prices, shipping costs and a weak euro versus the dollar, European customers said they were now beginning to see some activity from the region again, as the gap between Asian and European prices had narrowed.

One buyer said it had received offers of material for €2,000/tonne from several Asian suppliers, however lead times were up to six weeks.

“European producers will need to rethink their strategy as the Asians return to the market,” the buyer said.

($1 = €0.74)

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By: Amandeep Parmar
+44 208 652 3214

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