US Feb PS prices drop by 2-3 cents/lb on month

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Two US polystyrene (PS) producers previously informed customers that they were separately decreasing February contract prices by an average of 2 cents/lb for general purpose (GPPS) grades, and by an average of 3 cents/lb for high impact (HIPS) grades, market participants said on Friday.

The third producer did not confirm that it was making the same pricing moves, but market participants believe that it did so. Pricing is close among the three producers, because a lot of people buy from more than one supplier, a market participant said. There is a lot of crossover among the bigger buyers.

Domestic PS demand in February is as expected. Demand in February may have benefited from some movement of material from January to February, in anticipation of lower prices. One market participant said that sellers will benefit this month – a very short month – from one extra shipping day because it is a leap year.

There is no talk of March PS prices at this time, but market participants will be watching upstream crude oil and feedstock benzene closely for the rest of the month, sources said.

US PS producers include Americas Styrenics, INEOS Styrolution and Total Petrochemicals USA.