US BD producers propose 9, 20 cent/lb hikes for June

23 May 2011 23:43  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Early June US butadiene (BD) price increase nominations of 9 cents/lb ($198/tonne, €141/tonne) and 20 cents/lb have been heard by two of the four settlement producers, a BD producer said on Monday.

If the producers were to settle at their nominations, and if the remaining two producers settled within that range, the result would be a split settlement of $1.50-1.65/lb for June, following May’s split settlement of $1.41/lb and $1.45/lb.

The large spread between the first two nominations points to another likely split settlement for the BD contract, which would make it the seventh in the past 10 months.

“We’ll just have to see how it ends up,” one of the nominating producers said, expressing surprise at the wide 11-cent/lb spread.

BD production issues, including an ongoing turnaround that is expected to last until mid June, have supplanted a lack of crude C4 as the driving force in the BD market.

Major US BD producers include ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell, Shell and TPC Group.

($1 = €0.71)

By: Gene Lockard
1 713 525 2653

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