US PP margins mixed on falling naphtha, rising RGP

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US integrated polypropylene (PP) margins moved down mostly during the week ended 7 October on higher naphtha and propane feedstock costs, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

PP contract margins are based on the September PP contract, which settled up in the last week of August.

Integrated PP contract margins for material made from naphtha dropped almost 9% as feedstock costs rose by 2.47 cents/lb. Co-products increased almost 4% for contract naphtha but fell 11% for spot material.

Another drop came in integrated PP contract margins based on propane dehydrogenation (PDH), which dropped for the fifth week in a row, falling almost 3% on a 5% gain in propane feedstock costs.

PDH contract margins have dropped in seven of the past 10 weeks. Spot export margins based on PDH fell almost 4%.

The exception remained integrated PP contract margins based on refinery-grade propylene (RGP), which rose for the second week in a row, increasing 6% as propylene (RGP) costs dropped by 1.25 cents/lb.