June IPEX down 3% month on month on falling NE Asia and Europe prices

LONDON (ICIS)–The ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) fell 3.2% month on month in June, tracking price falls seen across most of the major petrochemical and plastics commodities in Europe and north east Asia.

Northwest Europe prices posted the steepest decrease because of price erosion in commodities such as benzene, styrene, polypropylene and polystyrene.

Apart from these commodities, all the petrochemicals and plastics prices used to calculate the index in Europe rose, or remained unchanged in June.

The northeast Asian index also showed a substantial drop, falling 3.9% in June. Ethylene, styrene, PVC and polyethylene posted the biggest drops in pricing month on month.

The US Gulf index posted the most moderate decline. Benzene, ethylene, polystyrene, styrene and toluene were the only petrochemicals falling in this region.

The Global IPEX index rose by 78% year on year.

The monthly IPEX indices provide a snapshot of the petrochemicals and plastics markets in the three major producing and consuming regions, as well as globally.

The IPEX table and charts below are ‘live’ and update on a regular basis. The latest price increases are shown and values of the regional and global IPEXs..

Price changes for the commodities used to create the IPEX can be captured by users on the price table, allowing comparisons to be made on a flexible monthly basis.

Likewise, IPEX values can be captured by clicking into the chart are and downloading current and historical data using the ‘downlaod’ button and selecting an option.

The ICIS petrochemical index tracks the movement of prices for the 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. The IPEX values are related to a January 2000 base of 100. IPEX values are subject to change retrospectively as monthly contract prices are settled.