US PVC market mulls December prices; November settles up 2 cts/lb
04 January 2011 22:30 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (ICIS)--US polyvinyl chloride (PVC) market participants discussed December price benchmarks after contracts for November settled higher by 2 cents/lb ($44/tonne, €33/tonne), market sources said on Tuesday.
November pipe-grade resin contracts were assessed by ICIS at 74-76 cents/lb, with general-purpose resin contracts at 78-80 cents/lb DEL (delivered).
Buyers and sellers stretched negotiations into December, as some producers first sought a 3-cent/lb increase for December as well as November.
At least one supplier proposed to implement a penny increase for the first week of November and then a 3-cent/lb increase for the subsequent weeks.
Some pipe-grade resin purchasers indicated PVC pipe contracts moved up between 1.0-2.5 cents/lb in November, with others still negotiating November contracts.
January nominations had not emerged as market players continued to consider December contracts.
US PVC sales and captive use totaled 516,000 tonnes in November, which was up 13% from 455,000 tonnes the same month in 2009, according to the American Chemistry Council.
In production, the ACC said about 500,000 tonnes of PVC was produced in November. This was a 9% increase from 460,000 tonnes produced a year earlier.
Manufacturing of major plastic resins overall was slightly down by 2.5% year on year, according to the trade group.
Meanwhile, spot prices for feedstock ethylene jumped by 5% on Tuesday after talk of new cracker outages in the US Gulf. Ethylene for January was trading as high as the mid-40s cents/lb.
US PVC producers include Westlake Chemical, Occidental Chemical, Georgia Gulf, Shintech and Formosa Plastics.
($1 = €0.75)
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