US Feb styrene contracts settle at big increases

David Love

03-Mar-2017

source: Cultura/REX/ShutterstockHOUSTON (ICIS)–US styrene producers have settled February contracts at an increase of 10 cents/lb ($220/tonne) from the previous month, while spot prices remained unchanged at very high levels, market participants said on Friday.

The ICIS February contract range is 73.75-78.75 cents/lb.

The increase in February contract prices was due to a combination of higher costs and higher spot prices, one producer said. The producer said that it weighs both equally when determining monthly contract prices.

One producer said that its early March negotiated-contracts with smaller buyers have been done at average increases of 10-15 cents/lb from the previous month.

Another producer said that it did not announce a price increase for March contract prices.

Styrene spot prices were unchanged for the second consecutive week, but prices remain at levels not seen since prior to 2000. The last deal done in the market was on 16 February at 80.50 cents/lb. That price was still representative of the spot market this week, sources said.

However, actual bids and offers were hard to find this week as spot material remained very scarce. High US prices have attracted supply from Europe and Asia. Most recently, two cargoes were fixed from South Korea to the US Gulf.

The chart below shows various price assessments.

Two US Gulf styrene plants remain down, as turnarounds at both facilities were extended. Cosmar’s 1.1m tonne/year plant in Carville, Louisiana, is running at about half of capacity until sometime this summer.

One of Americas Styrenics (AmSty) two styrene lines at its St James plant in Louisiana will be down until sometime in the second quarter. The plant’s capacity is 450,000 tonnes/year.

Additionally, INEOS Styrolution began a turnaround on 1 March at its 450,000 tonne/year Texas City plant in Texas. The turnaround is expected to last for 45 days.

In total, the three plants that are down, comprising 30% of total US operable capacity.

US Styrene Producers

Capacity (tonnes/year)

Status

Americas Styrenics

950,000

Partial outage, will extend into Q2

Cosmar

1,100,000

Partial outage, expected to extend into summer

LyondellBasell Chemical Co

1,125,000

Running

INEOS 
Styrolution

1,650,000 (total at 2 sites)

Began 45-day turnaround early March at 1 site

Westlake Styrene Corp

259,000

Running

Above image: Styrene’s main end use is to make polystyrene (PS), which is used to make plastic cups. Source: Cultura/REX/Shutterstock

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