The ICIS Polyacetal (POM) report is published weekly in Asia. In Europe POM falls under the Engineering Plastics report and includes Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) prices.
Price assessments cover contracts in Europe and spot in Asia and this unbiased independent intelligence is supported by commentary about demand, supply, production issues and graphs. This news and market analysis is an invaluable resource for market participants to refer to when making those crucial business decisions.
Updated to Q4 2020
Asia
Domestic supply in China was largely maintained as local plants were running normally with no major plant turnarounds heard during this period. Supply was, however, tighter in other northeast Asian countries, particularly Japan and South Korea, which resulted in lesser import availability in China from these regions.
There was a slight pick-up in demand in China as the economy slowly recovered following the easing of lockdown restrictions in the country since April. The key downstream automotive sector in China showed an improvement, although automotive sales in other Asian regions were not doing as well as they came out of their respective lockdowns later than China.
Europe
At the start of Q4, supply remained balanced. In general, this trend continued throughout the quarter, but towards the end there was just enough supply to meet a rise in demand. There were fewer imports from Asia following a shortage in the region.
Demand in the early part of Q4 continued its momentum from Q3. In November, demand was more or less stable. December outperformed the previous year’s level and is normally considered a quieter month. There was an element of restocking. The growth rate in consumption for some producers outpaced the level of car sales, which supports this notion. This could have been in reaction to new lockdown measures implemented to avoid supply disruptions.
We offer the following regional Polyacetal analysis and news coverage to keep you informed of factors and developments affecting prices in the Polyacetal marketplace.
Price reporting
Related products
Price history
News & analysis
Breaking news of latest developments affecting the markets.
Insight and analysis of factors driving prices.
Regional price assessments, published daily or weekly, enabling you to keep track of trading prices, understand price drivers/fluctuations and set a benchmark for contract price settl ements. ICIS offers reports on over 180 commodities across the global petrochemical, energy and fertilizer markets. Information covered in our price reports includes:
Information is accessed online, via the ICIS dashboard service and is configurable to suit your preferences.
Produced by the ICIS Consulting team, these reports give a robust rolling 12-month price forecast, trade balances and in-depth analysis into where markets are heading – providing a valuable tool to support your short- to medium-term plans.
ICIS pricing intelligence is delivered to you online via the ICIS dashboard. Here you can view your reports and also access other useful services including related news, analysis, historical data and market alerts.
ICIS dashboard also makes it easy for you to create pricing charts, download price history and export data to create tailored analytical models.
ICIS weekly margin reports deliver the detail you need to understand how production costs and prices are affecting margins, enabling you to judge the likely impact on your business and optimise your upstream and downstream business decisions.
Find out more about ICIS margin reports >>
The Supply and Demand Window on the ICIS Dashboard provides a snapshot view of historical and forecast information for supply and demand, production capacity and trade flows – a key tool to help safeguard future investments within the chemicals market.
24-hour global coverage of breaking news in the petrochemical industry, including updates on production, shutdowns and key transacted deals, keeping you informed of market developments as they happen. The ICIS news service allows you to customise the market alerts delivered to your email inbox, providing the business-critical information you need straightaway.
An expert view of supply and demand comprising four fully-reconciled databases, giving you access to extensive data for more than 100 markets. Information is included on global and regional trade flows, production, capacity and sources of demand in the short-, medium- and long-term. Data can be downloaded, customised and queried to support your planning requirements and your strategic decisions.
Analytics tools for MPG include:
ICIS provides specialist training courses across the global petrochemicals, base oils and fertilizers industries. Our training team of industry experts can help you increase your knowledge of the industry and gain the insight and know-how needed to operate and trade effectively.
Find out more about ICIS training courses >>
ICIS produces a series of highly informative and timely conferences. Extensive research is carried out to ensure that each programme delivers the information you need and addresses current industry issues. We source speakers who have the appropriate expertise and experience to deliver excellent quality papers.
Find out more about ICIS conferences >>
Working closely with you to understand your strategies, challenges and ambitions, the ICIS consulting team deliver tailored advice and solutions to suit your unique requirements. With many years’ experience of guiding business leadership teams, we show you how market conditions can make a positive or negative impact on your long-term plans.
ICIS expert consultants can provide your organisation with the insight, intelligence and data needed to build and grow your business in China. We can help you to gain a clear view on the short and long-term supply and demand picture in the chemicals, energy, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals and paper and pulp markets in China.
Polyacetal or POM is a crystalline plastic often used for technical applications due to its strength, ductility (ability to be drawn into threads without breaking) and good machinability. Its properties make it suitable for click connections (e.g. bicycle lamp holders). The material is known for its stiffness, strength and hardness up to 120ºC, and is as elastic as many metals. It is wear resistant and has a very low friction coefficient. The colour is opaque white, and carbon black can be added to protect the product from UV-light.
HOUSTON (ICIS)--Celanese decided to sell its 45% stake in Polyplastics after the joint venture spent years lagging behind the company's other holdings in its Engineering Materials segment, the CEO...
ReadHOUSTON (ICIS)--China's latest list of proposed tariffs against the US covers hundreds of chemicals and plastics, with the first batch taking effect in a little more than a week. Image by...
ReadSINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here are the top stories from ICIS News Asia and the Middle East for the week ended 7 June 2019. NE Asia ethylene falls to multi-year lows; outlook weak Ethylene prices in northeast...
ReadSINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s latest tit-for-tat move in its 10-month trade war with the US will hit some key chemicals such as polymers, aromatics and methanol. It announced late on Monday that it...
Read