Resin Pricing

Fluctuation in resin prising shows little sign of slowing, and in fact gives every impression that it will only grow more volatile.  Processors naturally are keen to devise a system that enables them to share the risk of plastics pricing's ebbs and high tides with their customers.

Polyethylene supplier Equate Petrochemical Company says its sales in its domestic market of Kuwait have grown 200% since 1998. The growth comes on top of what was a low base, but is indicative of the country's, and the region's, rapid demand growth, especially for plastics packaging.

Polyethylene (PE) spot prices were steady to a penny higher to start February, after adding about $0.04/lb in the last week of January, when the spot market indicated that contract PE would again rise in February. Mike Greenberg, CEO of plastics spot-trading platform, The Plastics Exchange (TPE), said that although it was strong exports that helped drive PE prices to this level, tight resin supplies and particularly high monomer costs are now driving the market.

Plastics suppliers have initiated a spate of price hikes so far this year, with recent announcements on such being made by BASF, Ticona, and Dow Europe.

Ticona, for instance, announced that on March 1, 2010 it will raise the price for its GUR-brand ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) grades and GHR brand of very-high molecular weight polyethylene (VHMW-PE) by15% around the world.

Has plastics pricing started the shift from an at-times opaque index system to a forward-looking transparent mechanism, with futures at its core?

Polyethylene (PE) spot prices were mostly steady-to-a-half-cent lower last week, as transactions consolidated at levels $0.04/lb higher than December levels. Spot-trading platform The Plastics Exchange (TPE) reports that producers sought increases totaling $0.07-0.08/lb on January contracts, and with inventories tight throughout the supply chain, the market began the month "super-strong", according to TPE CEO Michael Greenberg.

Plastic processors in the Philippines have asked that country's tariff commission to remove a 15% levy on resins imported from outside the ASEAN region in a bid to bolster local supplies and eliminate any price distortion between finished goods made in country and those produced in other ASEAN countries.

In the wake of the “Great Recession,” what are plastics’ prospects in 2010? Given the historic collapse of 2009, it will be by default a year of growth and one that faces lingering threats as well as opportunities. Most economists now agree that the longest recession the U.S. has endured since the 1930s bottomed out in June of last year. Before descending to that nadir, however, an ignominious list of lowlights was compiled.

• For the first time since World War II, global gross domestic product (GDP) declined in 2009, falling by 2.3%.

Polyethylene (PE) spot prices were just $0.005/lb higher last week in spite of overall supplies remaining tight, with certain materials, including film grades, outright difficult to source.

Want to find a material data sheet? The answer to that question often takes plastics processors to IDES Inc., a popular online search tool and informational resource for plastic materials.