European PP, PE sellers voice hike intentions for February

After spot PP and PE prices posted hikes of up to €200/ton in line with higher upstream costs as well as tightness, European markets are set to witness a new round of increases in February, with initial hike intentions starting to emerge with increases of around €100/ton or up to €200/ton.

PP faces a stronger pressure compared to PE due to the scarcity of spot volumes, while LDPE is under a more visible pressure compared to other PE grades. Buyers mainly tried to secure material from the contract market. Spot prices saw hefty gains as suppliers sold out their allocations in the first half of the month and then closed order books. A buyer affirmed, “It was impossible to do pre-buying this month and we could only secure our needs.”

A distributor revealed his expectations to see hikes of €100/ton or more for PP and €80-100/ton for PE. “Demand has been good so far. We expect monomer contracts to settle visibly higher for February, but our supplier is aiming for even sharper hikes than the projected monomer gains in order to boost their margins further,” the seller commented.

A different distributor even reported hearing hike intentions of €200/ton for West European PP. He doesn’t see an immediate ease in import availability as import tonnages would be insufficient to meet European demand.

A source from a regional producer remarked, “Demand is surpassing overall supply levels. We expect monomer contracts to settle with increases of up to 3-digits and we will seek increases beyond the ethylene and propylene hikes.”

A reseller reported having no HDPE and LLDPE cargos from the US as his suppliers are not delivering. He confirmed that fresh US cargos may arrive as of April and added that he projects increases of €150/ton on February PE offers.

In Germany, a distributor reported that his West European supplier targets increases of €200/ton for PE. He added, “We heard some other producers also mull over hikes of €150-200/ton for February.”

“Two West European suppliers are mulling over hikes of €200/ton for LDPE offers due to the ongoing tightness. We expect to see 3-digit hikes in February regardless of the ethylene’s outcome,” a buyer also said.