Europe PET market talks of €30-50/tonne hike for September

03 September 2010 19:30  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Europe's polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producers were considering a September contract increase of €30-50/tonne ($38-64/tonne) from August’s €1,050-1,100/tonne because of higher expected costs in feedstock, sources said on Friday.

“I expect there to be around a €45/tonne increase on [upstream] monoethylene glycol [MEG] and paraxylene [PX] [which will be] converted to the PET cost,” a seller explained.

Raw materials were on the up and optimistic across the board. Many PET sources were therefore anticipating some sort of increase to be passed through in September, with €20-30/tonne the most common expectation.

“There have been no serious discussions yet for September but plus €20-50/tonne sounds reasonable,” a customer said.

Since August contracts fell €20-50/tonne to €1,050-1,100/tonne FD (free delivered) Europe, spot prices had begun to increase, supporting the notion of a firmer market going into September, sources agreed.

“Spot is close to €1,100/tonne and above sometimes,” according to a reseller, adding that occasional business had been done at €1,050/tonne, but nothing had been concluded below this.

Some PET customers were resisting the upward trend and one commentator was requesting a decrease. Even a rollover was justified, according to a buyer.

It added that some western European producers had been trying to offload more volumes because of excess availability and in a bid to gain market share.

“From May to July we accepted some increases largely above the raw material movement. I don’t think [producers] will achieve a rollover despite increasing raw materials,” a customer said.

The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties which were applied earlier this year were being reviewed. There was a chance that by the end of the year they could be lower and this was prompting European producers to increase their market share and offer more aggressive prices, sources said.

Discussions for September contracts were ongoing.

ICIS has launched a weekly PET (Middle East) pricing report. For more information contact Nadine Spoeri
For more on PET visit ICIS chemical intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Caroline Murray
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