INEOS NOVA to raise price of Europe October GPPS by €30/tonne

30 September 2010 10:56  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--INEOS NOVA is targeting a €30/tonne ($41/tonne) increase in its price of general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) in October, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

INEOS NOVA also aims to increase the delta between GPPS and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) to €100/tonne, from the current level of around €80/tonne, “as the increased costs of polybutadiene rubbers over the last few months have not yet been recovered”, it said. 

One polystyrene (PS) producer said that the cost of producing HIPS over GPPS has now risen to €100-110/tonne due to the increased costs of polybutadiene used in the manufacture of HIPS.  

Buyers paid increases of €30-50/tonne in September, because of the tight supply situation.

GPPS net prices at smaller and medium-sized accounts were trading around €1,280-1,300/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

There was little appetite among buyers for more increases, however.

“I do not intend to pay one penny more for PS next month,” said one buyer. “Our October volumes are low and I expect prices to collapse in the second half of the month.”

Wider expectations of a price collapse were not frequent, as production had been permanently shut in Europe in 2009, leading to a balance, if not undersupplied situation.

But buyers in general intended to resist the relentless targeting of price increases by PS suppliers.

“They have good margins now,” said another buyer. “They should be satisfied with what they have.”

PS producers in Europe include BASF, Styron, Total Petrochemicals, INEOS NOVA and Polimeri Europa.

($1 = €0.73)

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By: Linda Naylor
+44 20 8652 3214

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