NPRA ’11: S America still best market for PE imports - analyst

27 March 2011 21:02  [Source: ICIS news]

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ICIS)--Polyethylene (PE) demand from South America remains strong, keeping the area as the best netback for exports, a petrochemical analyst of PMI Comercio Internacional said Sunday.

The arbitrage to Asia has been closed for some time, leaving South America and, to a lesser extent, Northern Europe as the best options to move PE products, said PMI's Jaime Berumen on the sidelines of the International Petrochemical Conference (IPC).

Demand from Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile has been particularly strong, and prices in the US Gulf and Mexico have been a good fit for the region.

PMI had extra volumes of low density PE (LDPE) during January and February, but stronger domestic demand in March and upcoming turnarounds at the 300,000 tonne/year LDPE Cangrejera facility will curtail volumes for exports in coming months.

Hosted by the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA), the IPC continues through Tuesday.

For more information on polyethylene, visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: George Martin
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