European PP players talk about January price hikes

Most players in the PP market started to voice firm expectations for January, attributing this to the higher monomer costs resulting from strong energy markets and an expected shortness in supply due to the upcoming cracker shutdowns. After the decrease amount in December propylene contracts was replaced with a €30/ton drop instead of an initial €45/ton, some PP sellers wanted to keep decreases in check by giving smaller discounts while buyers were pushing for more. Despite bullish January talks, buying interest was still reported to be slow due to the year-end destocking.

A distributor in Germany commented, “We expect PP prices to post increases of up to €50/ton in January as many crackers will be off next month. Therefore, supply might get shorter.”

A reseller from Italy reported, “For January, we expect suppliers to ask for increases of €50-100/ton on their PP prices as supply is going to be short.”

A buyer heard about possible increases in January; however, they do not expect increases larger than €30-50/ton.

Market sources had previously reported that all European crackers were back online except Ineos’ Rafnes cracker. The company has reportedly resumed production at its steam cracker, which was shut in early October due to an outage after a fire at the compressor. In 2017, a number of steam crackers are expected to undergo maintenance between the March-May period.

So far this week, local PP prices are reported at €1000-1100/ton for homo-PP and at €1080-1150/ton for PPBC on FD Italy, 60 days. In Northwest Europe, PP prices stand at €1020-1130/ton for homo-PP and at €1070-1180/ton for PPBC on FD NWE, 60 days.