(ICIS) -- European polypropylene (PP) buyers and sellers are watching the volatile crude market with interest to gain an idea of where PP prices will land in September, several said on Monday.
⌠Everybody is just watching everybody else to see what will happen, said one producer. August business is now over and European prices have mostly fallen by EUR 15/tonne (USD 21/tonne), in line with the drop in the propylene contract price.
Freely-negotiated PP accounts, as well as those with links to propylene, fell in line but some buyers reported more substantial drops by the middle of the month.
PP prices suffered far less turmoil in August than in June and July, when some fell by as much as EUR 250/tonne over both months as imports made their way to Europe and demand waned on news of economic woes.
The focus of the PP market is now September, and more precisely, where the new European propylene contract will settle.
Economic worries have not gone away, but in spite of volatility in upstream crude and naphtha prices further significant falls have been avoided. Most sources acknowledge that there will be a fall in the new contract, but the extent of that is still open to discussion.
MRC