Italian PVC players voice firm Feb expectations

In Italy, most January PVC deals were concluded with increases of €20-25/ton from last month as initial hike targets indicating €45/ton increases were confronted by buyers’ resistance. Sellers managed to achieve the entire half of the January ethylene contract hike and even slightly larger than that in most cases. Increases slightly below half of the ethylene hikes also passed on deals in a few cases on weak end product demand due to seasonal factors.

Now market players are currently voicing firmer February expectations on strong feedstock costs. Indeed, spot naphtha and ethylene prices have been firming up in January, maintaining the upward momentum that kicked off in early December.

A South European producer reported, “We sold some of our allocations with €25/ton hikes. Demand was not good at the beginning of the month while it is currently improving slowly. We expect to receive more orders in the second half of January. As for the next month, PVC prices are expected to post further hikes on increasing upstream costs. However, it is early to make a precise prediction about the increase amount.”

A trader reported selling material with €25/ton hikes and conceding to half of the cost of the ethylene in a few cases. The trader noted, “One of the reasons behind better demand is the lack of import material. The February outlook is bullish owing to rising feedstock prices.”

On the other hand, a pipe producer reported to have purchased some material with €20-30/ton hikes from last month, adding, “Demand is not good in the pipe sector as the construction business slowed down due to weather conditions. We only sourced limited quotas as we started to receive import material that we ordered last month. For February, we expect further increases of €10-20/ton due to the gains in the feedstock costs.”

In Italy, spot PVC prices are reported at €860-960/ton for k67 and at €875-990/ton for specialty grades, FD Italy, 60/90 days.