Bearish expectations pronounced in the European PE market

Some producers approached the PE market with increases of €30/ton in line with the ethylene settlements. However, most of the sellers failed to reflect the entire amount onto their prices and revised their hike targets down to €20/ton or even rollovers instead. Players anticipate a softer outlook for December as there are some speculations about possible decreases of around €30/ton in December monomer contracts in line with the recent naphtha losses.

A distributor in Germany reported that they are expecting €30/ton decreases on December contracts on the back of weak energy markets and expected slowdown in demand from the downstream markets.

Another distributor in Switzerland stated, “Demand is slow as buyers expect decreases on PE prices in December and therefore they keep their purchases limited. Plus, they have some stocks on hand. We expect some downward revisions on ethylene contracts.”

A converter in Italy, who received some spot offers with rollovers to €20/ton increases from October, reported that their end product business is slow and their stocks are sufficient for the time being and therefore they preferred to take a wait and see stance.

Meanwhile, a distributor reported concluding deals at rollovers from October while adding that they are keeping their stocks low and doing back-to-back business. “Demand is generally slow even though a few buyers purchase extra volumes when they find competitive prices,” he commented.

Another distributor confirmed that they face difficulty selling Central European material as prices stand on the high end of the HDPE b/m range and buyers are not willing to accept these levels. He added, “Demand is weak and we expect slack market activities in December as it will be a shorter month due to the holidays.”

A different distributor reported concluding deals mostly with rollovers from October. He added that LLDPE supply is quite ample and import materials are available at €1060/ton. According to the distributor, market sentiment will be sluggish in December and prices might be rolled over.