Europe IBAP shows rising cost of petrochemicals in auto production

LONDON (ICIS)–The Europe ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP) rose sharply by €13.61/tonne of overall vehicle weight in April compared with March, ICIS analysis showed on Tuesday.

The Europe IBAP is a basket of European prices for major petrochemicals used in automotive production.

The Europe IBAP is weighted on the percentage amount of each petrochemical used in an average passenger car to give a petrochemical-based raw material cost per tonne of a vehicle’s total weight.

Although the Europe IBAP rose by €13.61 in April, prices in dollar terms moved by just $6.22, showing the volatility of exchange rate movements over the past few months.

*rounded to 2 decimal places

The rise in the Europe IBAP was mostly the result of price rises of polypropylene (PP), nylon 6 and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

The rise in PP prices has been caused by several forces majeures in the region, coupled with global shortages.

Nylon 6 price rises in April were driven by rising upstream benzene costs. The European April benzene contract price rose by €133/tonne. Coupled with this, shortages of PP and nylon 6,6 lead to increased demand for nylon 6 – particularly for the Bulk Continuous Filament (BCF) carpet sector – as players looked to cover short term end-use order requirements.   

ABS prices increased significantly in April because of hikes in feedstock costs amid market tightness. Availability in Europe was limited due to strong demand and a reduction in import volumes from outside the EU.

The IBAP comprises prices for PP, polyethylene (PE), ABS, nylon, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), isocyanates, polyols, styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), base oils and soda ash. In Asia and Europe, the IBAP additionally includes prices for polyacetal (POM) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), which ICIS does not cover in the US. Weightings are based on American Chemistry Council (ACC) and European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) data.

To see the Global IBAP, click here
To see the Asian IBAP, click here
To see the US IBAP, click here