December price rises push IPEX to highest point since July 2015

(recasts clarifying date comparison in fifth paragraph)

LONDON (ICIS)–Higher olefins and aromatics prices in northeast Asia helped drive the global ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX) up strongly in December and to its highest point since July 2015, data showed on Monday.

The global IPEX gained 4.7% to reach 242.49 while the northeast Asia sub-index was up 9.2% at 249.25.

Petrochemical and polymer markets in Asia are spot price-driven and the reaction to changing cost and supply/demand dynamics is swift.

The December IPEX particularly reflected market reaction to the climbing oil price and to costlier naphtha cracker feedstock. The additional costs were being fed through to those product markets that could bear increases.

The global IPEX shows that petrochemical and polymer prices had been rising for the previous six months. The December global IPEX was up 19% on December 2015.

The IPEX represents price movements in a basket of 12 petrochemicals and plastics weighted by capacity. It is calculated each month on a regional as well as a global basis as monthly contracts and local spot prices move.

The US IPEX in December was up 0.51% at 228.65 while the northwest Europe IPEX was down 0.56% at 243.43.

The 12 petrochemicals in the IPEX basket are ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, paraxylene, styrene, polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), methanol and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

The northeast Asia IPEX average in the fourth quarter of 2016 was 12.5% higher than in Q3 and up 23.6% on Q4 2015. The annual average price index was, however, down 3.1%.

The global IPEX for 2016 was down 4.1% from 2015 while the Q4 2016 to Q4 2015 comparison was 14.1%. Sequentially, Q3 to Q4 2016, the IPEX increase was 6.5%.

Download global and regional ICIS IPEX data here
View the full IPEX methodology