Europe PVC prices for CIS markets rise

MOSCOW (MRC)–Negotiations over prices of European polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for October shipments to the CIS countries started in the end of last week, with European producers announcing increases of €60/tonne or higher in their export PVC prices, despite a decrease of the ethylene price, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

October contract price of ethylene was agreed at the previous month’s level, which theoretically allowed discussion of a slight decrease of the net cost of PVC production, compared to September.

Nevertheless, shutdowns of several plants in Europe and good demand for PVC in the world helped European producers to talk about a significant increase in export prices for the CIS markets in October. An increase of €60-90/tonne in export PVC prices has been under discussion.

The demand for PVC from consumers from the CIS countries was still at a good level due to the seasonal factor, and the converters intend to purchase part of the volumes in Europe. European producers have already limited their export sales to the CIS countries during July – September.

For October shipments, export quotas were cut even more due to planned shutdowns of plants and good demand from both the domestic market and export markets. Overall, deals for October shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were negotiated in the range of €770-840/tonne FCA(free carrier), whereas the previous month’s deals were discussed in the range of €710-750/tonne FCA.

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