US LDPE margins rise by 0.83% on fall in ethane

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US polyethylene (PE) margins for low density polyethylene (LDPE) rose by 0.83%, following a drop in feedstock costs, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

Integrated domestic PE margins were assessed at 69.41 cents/lb ($1,530/tonne, €1,148/tonne) for LDPE and 60.04 cents/lb for high density polyethylene (HDPE) blow moulding in the week that ended on 8 November. That represents a 0.57 cent/lb increase on average for LDPE and 0.55 cent/lb increase on average for HDPE, from a week earlier, using ethane as a feedstock.

The PE margin increased based on a 5.2% fall in ethane feedstock costs, and despite a 1.7% fall in co-product credits on lower C4 and pygas values.

Co-product credits are the price at which products such as propylene, butadiene (BD) and benzene, which are made along with ethylene in the cracking process, can be sold.

Integrated export margins for LDPE fell by around 0.43 cents/lb, and HDPE export margins fell by around 1.44 cents/lb, on lower export prices. Export LDPE prices weakened by 1 cent/lb, while HDPE fell by 2 cents/lb.

 ($1 = €0.75)