(ICIS) -- US propylene contract prices for
November settled down 6 cents/lb ($132/tonne, ?95/tonne) from October as
inventory levels remain high, market participants said on Monday. The
decline, took polymer-grade propylene (RGP) contracts down to 58 cents/lb, and
the chemical-grade propylene (CGP) contract down to 56.50 cents/lb.
Initial settlements were first heard on Friday for PGP, but the CGP
contract was still in negotiations. Producers had nominated declines of 3.5
and 4 cents/lb for the month while a buyer predicted contracts would drop by as
much as 6 cents/lb.
The settlement came as US propylene inventories gained 2% to 3.786m bbl in
the first week of November from the previous week, continuing the increase that
began in mid-September, according to the Energy Information Administration
(EIA).
Major US producers of PGP and CGP include Chevron Phillips Chemical,
Enterprise Products, ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell, Petrologistics and Shell
Chemical. The main buyers include Dow Chemical, INEOS, Ascend Performance
Materials and Total.
Perspectives of development of polymer markets, pricing issues and other
important aspects will be discussed at The Polymers
Summit-2011, which will be held in Moscow on November 30, 2011 at the
Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Summit will be organized by MRC with the support of
ICIS. The main idea of the Summit is to find a "the golden mean" between
producers and converters. When producers receive exactly such margin of
production, which helps them to invest in production expansion in order to
substitute polymers imports, and the converters receive such price of feedstock
that helps them to compete imported finished products. The Summit site gives an
access to the live video of the Summit, speakers" presentations, as well as
opportunities to ask questions or make appointments to any Summit
partcipant.
mrcplast.com
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