European PS, ABS markets unresponsive to falling costs

In Europe, PS and ABS markets continued to firm up further regardless of the recent falls in the upstream chain. Spot butadiene prices posted cumulative decreases of €200/ton on the week following plummeting Asian prices by $900/ton since early March to currently stand at $2100/ton FOB Korea. Spot styrene costs in Europe, meanwhile, were down by around $130/ton from a week earlier.

After Trinseo and Ineos announced their March prices with increases beyond monthly styrene contract hikes, more deals were concluded with three digit hikes, which has been the case during the last four months. Along with the March increases, both PS and ABS prices hit all-time highs.

On the other side of the coin, PS converters continue to lament about difficulties in reflecting higher costs onto their end products considering that PS prices hit all-time highs and they mostly prefer to destock. Most buyers reported, “We think that prices reached their peak levels and we expect to see a reversal in trend by April-May, although limited imports might cushion price decreases to some extent in the local market.”