The weekly Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) price report is published in Asia, Middle East, Europe, CIS, the US and Latin America. The reports cover, if applicable to the region, different grades of PET such as bottle, film and fibre, domestic prices, spot prices, production news, feedstock quotes, exchange rates and price history.
The unbiased and informative reports are full of news and analysis, and are a vital tool for those involved in the industry to use to make better informed decisions.
Updated to Q2 2020
Asia
New plants by Billion Industrial Holdings in Vietnam, and by Yisheng Petrochemical and Zhejiang Wankai New Material in China started up in Q2, adding a total of 1.35m tonnes/year of new capacity into the PET bottle grade market. China’s operating rate rose, ending the quarter with an average run rate of around 77%.
Domestic demand improvements in China, South Korea and Taiwan helped balance production and keep producers’ inventories low. Asia export demand stabilised after a period of panic buying at the start of Q2 when the coronavirus spread worldwide. Pandemic-related restrictions limited downstream converters’ operations, but not for long. Bottle grade PET demand saw support from bottled mineral water applications. Fibre grade PET demand saw support from non-woven applications into mask and personal protective equipment.
Europe
In May and June, technical problems forced a shutdown at Indorama’s UAB Orion Global PET plant in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Indorama carried out its commitments with product from its other sites. Indorama would not comment on the shutdown. Other units in Europe operated around 90%, as customers relied on domestic material during lockdowns, and imports mostly proved to be uncompetitive as lockdowns eased.
During the pandemic, PET has benefitted from its high priority status in the form of food and water packaging, but the cancellation of mass events and flights hit sales of carbonated soft drinks hard. Logistic curtailments caused by lockdowns meant local material was the only option, but even as transport flowed more easily, import prices remained uncompetitive.
Latin America
Q2 supply was adequate, with domestic and offshore offers available. Offers from Mexico were frequent and offers from Asia resumed in late April, but buyers were still hesitant to purchase due to previous delays in deliveries of Asian product.
Q2 demand increased on the back of the coronavirus outbreak as PET resin played an important role in the fight against the virus as it has been largely used in packaging for food, personal care and cleaning products.
US
PET supply during Q2 2020 was adequate, with abundant domestic and offshore offers. Operating rates were high to meet robust demand stemming from bulk buying activity due to the pandemic.
Q2 demand was unseasonally strong as a result of panic buying at the end-consumer level, due to the spread of the coronavirus. Consumers relied on PET packaging for food and beverage and personal care products.
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Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) exists both as an amorphous (transparent) and a semi-crystalline (opaque and white) thermoplastic, and can be made into either a resin or a film.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has a crystalline structure and good chemical resistance to mineral oils, acids and solvents but not to bases. It has good electrical resistance, low moisture absorption; it resists combustion and is self-extinguishing.
PET exists both as an amorphous (transparent) and a semi-crystalline (opaque and white) thermoplastic, and can be made into either a resin or a film. The semi-crystalline PET has good strength, stiffness and hardness while the amorphous PET has better ductility.
PET can be made into a resin, fibre or film. The largest outlet is synthetic fibres, followed by bottle resin. PET film is used in electrical applications and packaging.
In the manufacture of PET resins, purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) are reacted to make a basic ester which is polymerised in a melt phase, polycondensation finishing reactor.
Dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) is an alternative feedstock to PTA but the PTA route is preferred. The molten polymer is extruded, cut into chips and cooled. The chips pass to a solid state polycondensation unit to form the PET resin.
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