December ethylene contracts settle in the US

According to market sources, December ethylene contracts have been settled in the US. Ethylene contracts settled up 2 cents/lb ($44/ton) from November at 32.25 cents/lb ($711/ton).

The size of the increase in December contracts was in line with the market expectations, which were calling for an increase of 1-2 cent/lb ($22-44/ton).

The rise was attributed to the planned and unplanned outages in the US Gulf Coast in December.

In the US, spot ethylene prices were reported on the week at around 30 cents/lb ($661/ton),up 3 cent/lb ($66) from a week earlier and by 5 cents/lb ($110/ton) from early December.