Egypt’s ETHYDCO, SIDPEC announce Jan PE prices to local market

ETHYDCO and SIDPEC, the two local producers PE producers in Egypt, have announced new offers with increases over December.

ETHYDCO’s HDPE film and HDPE inj. offers were higher by EGP2400/ton ($153/ton) while HDPE b/m offers increased by EGP1900/ton ($121/ton) over December. LLDPE C4 film offers saw the largest monthly gain, increasing by around EGP2500/ton ($159/ton). The latest offers were at EGP20,400/ton ($1298/ton) for HDPE film, EGP19,900/ton ($1266/ton) for HDPE b/m and HDPE inj., and EGP19,300/ton ($1228/ton) LLDPE C4 film, all on ex-Alexandria, cash not including VAT.

“The gas supply issues continue and our plant is still operating at around 90% capacity”, a source close to ETHYDCO reported. The source also added that their new prices were largely in line with new price announcements from Saudi suppliers.

SIDPEC’s new offers for January were similarly higher by around EGP2400/ton ($152/ton) over December. These changes brought the latest prices to EGP20,400/ton ($1298/ton) for HDPE film, EGP20,500/ton ($1304/ton) for HDPE inj. and EGP20,600/ton ($1310/ton) for HDPE b/m, all on ex-Alexandria, cash not including VAT basis.

“Market players have accepted these new levels without much resistance, possibly as a result of shorter availability,” a source from SIDPEC said. “We are monitoring the global markets to see how long the market will remain firm amid the ongoing COVID-19, as well as the trend in Chinese markets,” the source said, adding that they were not planning to halt operations for a maintenance shutdown over the near-term.