MOSCOW (MRC) -- There has been stronger demand in the Russian polypropylene (PP) market since early March, while supply has been gradually subsiding. Because of this some grades of polypropylene increased by Rb5,000 - 7,000/tonne, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.
The need for homopolymer PP in the Russian market began to grow in the last days of February under the pressure of a seasonal factor. The demand was also pressured by the upcoming restrictions on trucking and the upcoming shutdown of facilities in Tobolsk.
As a result, in a weekly mode, homopolymer PP prices grew every week at some sellers, and by the end of the month prices increased on average by Rb2,000/tonne. Homopolymer PP raffia was in great demand during the whole March, and some buyers reported a slight lack of material supply in the market. It is also worth noting that some sellers were in no hurry to sell their stocks.
According to unofficial information, the largest polypropylene producer in Russia, SIBUR Tobolsk, with an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes/year stopped its capacity for scheduled and preventive repairs from 11 March. The outage will last for 45 days.
The supply of cheap homopolymer PP raffia from Turkmenistan decreased significantly in March. So, if in February imports of this polypropylene amounted to about 2,000 tonnes, in March this figure fell to 500 tonnes.
Thus, if in the first week of March, homopolymer PP raffia in the spot market was sold in the range of Rb81,000-83,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, then by the end of the month polypropylene price grew to Rb86,000-90,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.
At the same time, injection moulding copolymers of propylene did not rise in price in April in the Russian market with a few exceptions. And in some cases, prices were already comparable to homopolymer PP, while Russian manufacturers have no plans to increase them in April.
MRC