Global IPEX down 7.6% in June on steep price declines across all regions

LONDON (ICIS)–The ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) dropped by 7.6% in June on the back of softer chemical values across all regions.

This decline leads the global index to its lowest value since December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prices in northeast Asia posted the steepest decline globally, down by 8.3% over May.

The drop was driven by a sharp fall in butadiene (BD), propylene (C3), ethylene (C2) and methanol prices.

In northwest Europe, the index went down by 7.1% on the back of softer benzene, BD and styrene pricing.

Toluene was the only commodity that saw an increase in its June contract prices in the region.

The IPEX in the US Gulf dropped by 5.4%, driven by lower BD, C3 and benzene values.

Toluene was also the only commodity posting a price increase over May, while paraxylene (PX) contracts settled at a rollover.

The price downtrend seen in the petrochemical markets in June was mainly driven by stable-to-soft upstream crude oil costs during the second half of May and June, as well as subdued demand for petrochemicals, caused by persistently high costs of borrowing and fears of a possible recession.

The global IPEX for June was down by 34% year on year.

*A non-market adjustment was made by ICIS to US polyethylene (PE) prices on 10 February, as well as to US polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices on 17 February. These adjustments impacted US IPEX values.

The ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) tracks the movement of prices for the 12 major petrochemicals and polymers: ethylene (C2), propylene (C3), butadiene (BD), 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.