LDPE and LLDPE follow different paths in China

Players in China report that local prices for LDPE and LLDPE have been tracking different paths since the end of the Chinese New Year holiday. The LDPE film market opened the post-holiday period on a soft note, with prices witnessing reductions in the face of lack of demand. Meanwhile, LLDPE film prices mostly maintained their pre-holiday levels over the past week.

Data obtained from ChemOrbis Price Index shows that local LDPE’s premium over LLDPE film prices has decreased to $136/ton recently, down by $86/ton when compared to the pre-holiday week.



A trader opined, “Although demand will return to normal levels in the face of spring season as well as the peak season for PE film in the northern part of China, local LDPE prices posted drops last week as they previously firmed up too much.”

Meanwhile, players also reported that overall inventory levels increased a lot in the local market when compared to levels before Chinese New Year.

A trader stated that in addition to local producers’ CNPC and Sinopec’s inventory levels which rose by around 30% from the pre-holiday levels, a huge amount of import cargoes are also expected to arrive to China’s ports after the holiday.