Africa December polyethylene prices hold steady

LONDON (ICIS)–While some polyethylene (PE) producers for the African markets targeted December hikes of up to $20/tonne (€16/tonne), the majority of prices have rolled over from November because of the traditional end-of-year slowdown, sources said this week.

“For certain customers we achieved an increase from November, but for the majority we got a rollover,” a Middle East producer said of high density polyethylene (HDPE).

“[We] rolled over in the main, for PP and PE,” a second producer said.

A distributor said: “It is true for North Africa and for West Africa, prices are steady for December. No one [producer] tried to get very big hikes in prices, [just small increases] but they quickly decided to roll over [prices]. It’s [because of the] end of year.”

“Middle East suppliers have largely implemented a rollover from November to December, after trying to achieve a slight price increase of about $20/tonne,” a second distributor said.

“This is due to the general slowdown and keenness of the suppliers to maintain continuity in Africa while they may have better opportunities if they diverted to Asian markets like China.”

($1 = €0.73)