US LDPE margins fall by 0.27% on higher feedstock costs

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US polyethylene (PE) margins for low density polyethylene (LDPE) fell by 0.27%, following a rise in feedstock ethane costs, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

Integrated domestic PE margins were assessed at 70.48 cents/lb ($1,554/tonne) for LDPE and 61.25 cents/lb for high density polyethylene (HDPE) blow moulding in the week that ended on 25 April. That represents a 0.19 cent/lb decrease on average for LDPE and a 0.17 cent/lb decrease on average for HDPE, from a week earlier, using ethane as a feedstock.

Ethane costs rose by 0.7% . The margin was also lowered on a 1.4% reduction in co-product credits and slightly higher energy costs.  

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.