US November epoxy resin contract prices fall on long supply

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US November epoxy resin contract prices fell, sources confirmed on Tuesday, tracking long supply and aggressive selling by importers.

US November contracts dropped by 3 cents/lb ($66/tonne, €49/tonne) at $1.32-1.38/lb on a DEL bulk (delivered in bulk) basis, as assessed by ICIS.

“There has been a lot of pressure in the past few weeks,” a producer said. “The overseas guys are still in the market.”

Market players in October had thought the global epoxy resin market might have hit a floor, but weaker feedstock prices in Asia allowed sellers there to lower their offers to the high-$1.20s/lb to low-$1.30s/lb level.

This forced US producers to stay at a 3-6 cent/lb premium to remain attractive to US buyers.

“We are getting killed with these prices,” another producer said. “We’re hoping we’ve seen the last of it, but we’ve said that before.”

Market players said that Asian sellers have started raising prices, with one buyer pointing to a $30/tonne increase nomination.

That could ease pressure on US producers and lead to a rollover for December prices.

Market players agreed that demand is soft, mostly on seasonal factors, and that the overseas sellers and US producers have longer-than-desired supplies.

“It’s going to be a while before the market stops being long – well into 2014,” a buyer said. “Everyone has plenty of supply.”

Major US epoxy resin producers include Dow Chemical, Huntsman and Momentive.

($1 = €0.74)