Europe August epoxy resin rollover halts seven months of hikes

27 July 2010 23:59  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--European epoxy resin contracts for August settled at a rollover, halting seven consecutive months of increases, sources confirmed on Tuesday.

Prices continued to be heard at €3,000-3,160/tonne ($3,896-4,104/tonne) FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe) for liquid epoxy resins (LER), after spiking by €1,210/tonne since December last year, according to ICIS.

“Thankfully producers are not looking for any more increases,” commented one buyer.

Despite there still being some tightness in the market, players agreed that the situation was not nearly as severe as earlier this year, as the upstream bis-phenol A market had eased.

Customers had built in buffers earlier in the year when they anticipated sharp price increases, and many had pre-bought to consume over the summer period, according to one buyer. Demand was now reduced, therefore, bringing a little more balance to the market.

However, while there had been a slight fall in demand it had not been as significant as usual for the summer holiday period, suppliers said.

“We hope that downstream shutdowns in southern Europe in August will help ease availability, but there is such a backlog of orders it will be difficult to catch up,” conceded one trader.

($1 = €0.77)

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By: Amandeep Parmar
+44 208 652 3214

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