Europe April MDI contract prices rise €50-100/tonne

11 April 2012 23:59  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--European methyl di-p-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) monthly contracts have largely settled, reflecting hikes of €50-100/tonne ($66-132/tonne), buyers and sellers confirmed on Wednesday.

The bulk of market commentary indicated that most March crude MDI contracts settled within a range of €2,010-2,150/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), reflecting an increase of €50-100/tonne from March.

The pure MDI contract price was assessed higher at €2,130-2,200/tonne FD NWE, up by €70-€80/tonne from March.

Increases are largely attributed to the need to recover lost margins together with strong seasonal demand, particularly for pure MDI from the footwear sector.

Generally, the markets were described as balanced to tight because of current and forthcoming outages in Europe and other regions.

“Demand is good but I see some problems [with availability] in June when one key supplier is in maintenance,” a major buyer said

However, other buyers countered that they had not noted any availability issues so far and that stocks would have been built up ahead of any planned downtime.

According to a number of commentators, buying interest for crude MDI from the downstream construction sector had picked up in line with warmer weather.

($1 = €0.76)

By: Sian Jones
+44 20 8652 3214

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