Chinese polyolefin buyers cautious in their March outlook

(plastemart) -- Chinese PP and PE buyers are expressing caution in their market outlooks for March.

 Buyers complained that demand for their end products has not been as good as anticipated after the holidays. They do not expect any sudden improvement in demand in April. Most buyers are predicting that PE prices will be stable to firmer in March, saying that the large increases in initial March prices announced by some overseas producers will not prove workable and that sellers will ultimately concede to smaller price hikes in order to complete their March sales.


"Demand for our end products has been disappointing after the holidays and our stock levels are mounting," complained an agricultural film manufacturer in the North. "We are unwilling to purchase beyond our needs for now as we do not want to continue piling up stocks. We believe that the new month will not bring any major change in the demand outlook."

"Converters have raised their operating rates recently, but this increase in operations has yet to translate into orders for more raw materials,"  commented a China based trader. "We are actively exploring the possibilities of re-exporting some of our cargoes but are finding it difficult to conclude satisfactory re-export business because of the additional time and paperwork required to close re-export deals, "the trader commented. "We expect prices to move higher for March, but we feel that producers will need to accept smaller increases than their initial hike targets in order to complete their March business,"  the trader told.

mrcplast.com