INTERACTIVE: Stronger NWE and US prices drive monthly IPEX higher

LONDON (ICIS)–Here are the September IPEX values and details of the major commodity petrochemical and polymer contract and average spot price movements for the month.

IPEX	IPEX Value	August to September change
Global	284.16	0.69%
US	274.79	0.96%
Northwest Europe	322.66	2.35%
Northeast Asia	273.60	-0.20%
Major price rises in September
Commodity	Region	Month on month rise
Paraxylene	Northeast Asia	26.4%
Toluene	US	7.08%
Styrene	Northwest Europe	6.21%
Major price falls in September
Commodity	Region	Month on month fall
Butadiene	Northeast Asia	-14.15%
Ethylene	Northeast Asia	-8.30%
Benzene	Northeast Asia	-3.76%

– Northeast Asia paraxylene prices continued to rise strongly on demand for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production and regional supply constraints.

– Butadiene prices in the region were under pressure on more available capacity and weaker synthetic rubber and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) markets.

– Northeast Asia ethylene was longer, particularly in the run up to China’s week-long holiday at the start of October.

The index values are subject to change as contract prices settle.

The following monthly contract prices for August are yet to settle – US ethylene, paraxylene and styrene.

Northwest Europe paraxylene had not settled when the IPEX figures were calculated.

Global and regional IPEX data are available here
The ICIS Petrochemical Index methodology is available here

The ICIS petrochemical index tracks the movement of 12 major petrochemicals and polymers: ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, paraxylene (PX), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), styrene, polystyrene (PS), methanol and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with the regional indexes weighted by capacity.