September IPEX flat as northwest Europe prices fall, balanced by stronger aromatics

LONDON (ICIS)–Lower petrochemical and polymer contract prices in northwest Europe and negative price movements in northeast Asia helped depress the Global ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) in September, but were balanced by a generally upward march in aromatics.

The Global IPEX value was essentially flat month to month: 0.05% higher at 226.01.

KEY POINTS:

• Lower northwest Europe index value and a shift higher in northeast Asia.
• Northwest Europe IPEX value lower due to weakness in propylene and polypropylene
• NWE toluene prices much lower on weaker demand due to maintenance at downstream toluene diisocycanate units.
• NWE prices were lower for eight of the 12 price series in the IPEX
• Other aromatics prices in Europe and aromatics prices in northeast Asia were much higher on stronger crude prices in September
• US PX prices down further as expanding supply in China weighed on global market

IPEX	IPEX Value	August to September change
Global	225.74	0.07%
US	231.15	0.88%
Northwest Europe	262.84	-1.50%
Northeast Asia	208.12	0.12%
Major price rises in September
Commodity	Region	Month on month rise
Benzene	NW Europe	11.3%
Benzene	NE Asia	8.4%
Toluene	NE Asia	5.9%
Major price falls in September
Commodity	Region	Month on month fall
Toluene	NW Europe	-8.4%
Propylene	NW Europe	-6.3%
Polypropylene	NW Europe	-4.6%

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.