Global IPEX falls 3.6% on declines across regions

LONDON (ICIS)–The ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) fell 3.6% month on month in October, as petrochemical prices continued to drop across regions, with demand weakening in light of uncertain economic conditions.

The northeast Asia IPEX was 3.8% lower month on month, with butadiene (BD), ethylene and styrene in particular pushing the index down. Methanol and toluene were the only commodities in the region to see monthly prices increase, but the rise was only minimal.

The northwest Europe index fell 3.3%, driven by lower methanol, polystyrene (PS) and propylene monthly contract prices.

It had taken time for some contract prices for October to settle and outstanding as the monthly IPEX was calculated were northwest Europe paraxylene (PX) and US paraxylene, US propylene and US polypropylene (PP).

As noted below, IPEX values are subject to change retrospectively as monthly contract prices are settled.

The US Gulf IPEX posted a fall of 3% in October. Benzene, ethylene and styrene posted the sharpest drops while pricing for toluene was up significantly month on month.

The Global IPEX index is down 16.3% year on year.

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.

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