Russia’s PVC July prices set to increase

MOSCOW (MRC)–Russian producers of polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) are set to increase prices in July as converters assume the hikes will be unavoidable, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Most PVC suppliers have plans to increase prices by Russian rouble 2,000/tonne ($32/tonne), compared to June, although some producers intend to get greater price increases.

Converters understand that it will be impossible to avoid further price increases and, therefore, they intend to limit the next price rise of material to a less amount than announced initially.

As before, there was no shortage of resin in the market, despite a major fall in imports and higher export sales of Russian producers.

At the same time, the weak rouble has still retained the attractiveness of exports for certain grades.

A long scheduled shutdown for maintenance at Russia’s largest producer – SayanskKhimPlast – will start on 15 July, and last for one month.

The producer has the capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes/year of PVC.

The plant’s shutdown is unlikely to affect the market balance, however, as many Russian producers have sufficient stocks to meet growing demand.

PVC prices have consistently increased during 2018, and converters had to transfer the increase in prices to finished products.

July deals for resin K=64/67 were negotiated in the range of Rb72,000-74,000/tonne CPT (carriage paid to) Moscow, including VAT.

Deals for resin with K=70 were also discussed around Rb72,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

($1 = Rb62.81)

MRC, a partner of ICIS, produces polymers news and pricing reports from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.