Domestic price for Feb delivery of Europe PET stabilises as March looms

LONDON (ICIS)–The European polyethylene terephthalate (PET) domestic price range for February delivery was steady this week amid expectations that prices will rise in March on the back of higher feedstock prices, sources confirmed on Friday.

The PET Bottle Grade price range now stands at €1,060-1,080/tonne FD (free delivery) Europe.

Earlier this month raw materials monoethylene gylcol (MEG) and paraxylene (PX) firmed in price in their February contracts.

Whether such a price jump would re-occur has been debated by some buyers who say that oil has not increased enough in cost to justify PET suppliers’ bullishness.

One customer even described PET’s recent upwards trend as having a lot of psychological momentum.

Another mentioned factor, the lack of competitive imports, has persisted to affect the market, according to sources.

Consequent tight supply, they added, has remained, as the absence of imports has led to more domestic transactions.

The European market, however, could potentially be disrupted by BP’s announcement on Friday that it declared force majeure on its upstream purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants in Geel, Belgium.

Although the UK chemical major did not confirm it, sources said they were told by the company that repair work would be finished in the week commencing on 20 February.