Europe spot glycol ethers firm by €20-30/tonne on feedstocks

23 April 2010 23:59  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--European methoxy propanol (PM) spot prices have firmed by €20-30/tonne ($26-40/tonne) since last week, with producers planning further increases after May’s propylene contract settled up by €20/tonne from April, market sources said on Friday.

Glycol ether spot prices also firmed by €20/tonne at the lower end of the range since last week, as producers attempted to push values up on high feedstock costs, sources said.

With butanol already having jumped €30-50/tonne in April, sellers said they could no longer offer butyl glycol (BG) and butyl di-glycol (BdG) at low numbers.

“We are starting to get good momentum on these products now,” said one distributor.

PM was now pegged at €1,120-1,150/tonne, BG at €1,180-1,230/tonne and BdG at €1,200-1,250/tonne, according to data from global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

All values were assessed on a free delivered (FD) northwest Europe (NWE) basis.

With the increase in the price of May propylene, producers were planning further rises in May of up to €50/tonne in PM and PMA, but the glycol ethers were expected to remain stable for the foreseeable future.

“We’ve seen a bit of a switch. Usually the propylene glycol ethers are more difficult than butyl glycol ethers to implement an increase, but now the situation is reversed,” said one producer. 

($1 = €0.75)

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By: Amandeep Parmar
+44 208 652 3214

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