July IPEX rises on US, Europe industry revival but falls 25% year on year

LONDON (ICIS)–Global petrochemical prices rebounded in July as pandemic-induced lockdowns continued to ease in North America and Europe and industrial activity revived, pushing the monthly IPEX higher.

Despite continuing in July the upward trend registered in June, global petrochemicals prices were 25% lower year on year.

US benzene prices gained nearly 40% in July, with northwest Europe following suit, although in Asia they fell slightly.

Butadiene (BD) prices rose strongly in northeast Asia; methanol continued losing ground in the US and northwest Europe.

IPEX	IPEX value	Month on month	Year on year
Global	171.17	7.04%	-25.28%
US	162.66	8.48%	-30.53%
Northwest Europe	219.36	9.57%	-18.00%
Northeast Asia	156.30	4.92%	-25.96%
Largest Cost Increases
Benzene	US	39.39%
Benzene	Northwest Europe	28.78%
Butadiene (BD)	Northeast Asia	22.72%
Largest Cost Decreases
Methanol	Northwest Europe	-9.77%
Methanol	US	-6.40%
Benzene	Northeast Asia	-1.64%

IPEX values are subject to change retrospectively as contract prices are agreed.  Yet to be settled for July is the Asia Pacific paraxylene contract price; the US’ BD July contract was agreed at a rollover.

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

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

Interactive content by Yashas Mudumbai