Initial Jan PP, PE offers emerge in Africa

In Tunisia, a plastic end manufacturer reported receiving January offers from a Saudi major with increases from the initial December levels line with the market expectations. Accordingly, the producer raised its new offers by €40/ton for LLDPE and HDPE film, by €110/ton for LDPE film and €130/ton for PP raffia and injection when compared to the initial December levels.

The producer’s new offers are standing at €1200/ton for LDPE film, at €1130/ton for LLDPE and HDPE film, at €1030/ton for PP raffia and inj., at €1160/ton for HDPE inj., at €1180/ton for HDPE pipe (PE 100), all on CIF Tunisia, 90 days basis.

The converter said that the new offers came in line with their expectations. “We are hoping to see some improvement on our end product demand; but so far the market activity is a bit slow,” added the manufacturer.

In Nigeria, local producer ELEME revealed their new offers with further increases according to a trader. The producer’s new January offers indicate increases of NGN15000/ton ($48/ton) for HDPE film, b/m and inj., NGN12000/ton ($38/ton) for LLDPE film and homo PP grades and NGN14,000/ton ($45/ton) for PP block copolymer.

According to the trader’s report, the producer’s new offers are standing at NGN 694,000/ton ($2203/ton) for HDPE film, at NGN699,000/ton ($2219/ton) for LLDPE c4 film, at NGN691,000/ton ($2194/ton) for HDPE b/m, at NGN692,000/ton ($2197/ton) for HDPE injection, at NGN616,000/ton ($1956/ton) for PP raffia and NGN609,000/ton ($1934/ton) for PP injection and at NGN645,000-660,000/ton ($2048-2095/ton) for PPBC injection, all on an ex-Port Harcourt, Nigeria, cash excluding 5% VAT basis.

A plastic end manufacturer receiving new offers from ELEME commented that the local producer continues to benefit from parity issues and it is still seeing good demand due to the halted import activities. “The exchange rates are still high; however, banks have facilitated procedures to open the letters of credit now although it still takes too long to be processed. There is a huge gap of around NGN 190/ton between the official exchange rates and the black market and we are expecting this gap to widen further if the banks do not supply sufficient liquidity to the importers this month. That’s why local prices continue to firm up. Manufacturers have been struggling with higher exchange rates which drag down their margins. We have to increase our end-product prices as we try to avoid losses amidst higher prices from the local producer,” added the converter.

In addition, a trader also said that they received new January PP offers from a Saudi major with an increase of $40/ton from December at $1080/ton on a CFR Lagos, Nigeria, cash basis.

“The market is slow now given the new year holidays while players will resume their activities during this week. Meanwhile, ELEME also raised their offers as well due to the ongoing exchange rates issues. The local producer is making good sales as most players are meeting their needs from the local market,” opined the trader.