MOSCOW (MRC) -- Prices of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) plasticizer rose in the Russian market by more than Rb10,000/tonne in December. The main reason for such a major price increase was the rouble devaluation, reported MRC analysts.
Russian producers announced December prices of DOP plasticizer late. The reason was the lengthy negotiations over feedstocks prices, particularly, over 2-ethylhexanol. This material is exported from Russia in rather large quantities, and the rouble devaluation led to a major rise in 2-ethylhexanol prices for local producers of DOP plasticizer. As a result, Russian plasticizer producers were forced to raise significantly DOP prices for the domestic market.
Supply of DOP was temporarily tight in the spot market because of producers' fulfillment of contractual obligations before large consumers. However, this factor did not affect the market greatly. Quite a large number of companies decided to suspend their purchasing, following a sharp rise in DOP prices. Small deals were done in the range of Rb92,000-93,000/tonne FCA, including VAT, in the spot market.
A Russian DOP plasticizer producer said he did not rule out a shutdown of production in January 2015. This move is largerly due to the sharp increase in feedstocks prices, which made DOP production non-profitable.
Dioctyl phthalate (DOP) is used as a plasticizer of vinyl polymers, rubbers, cellulose esters.
MRC