LDPE prices felt stronger downward pressure in Europe

Sellers in Europe had to trim their offers down to boost their sales and reach their sales targets ahead of the year-end. Spot LDPE was traded with decreases of up to €70/ton for November in Europe, facing the largest decline among other PE products as per ChemOrbis Price Index suggests.



As can be seen from the above graph formed by ChemOrbis Price Wizard, PE prices in Italy posted cumulative decreases of €132/ton for LDPE, €82/ton for LLDPE and €34/ton on average for HDPE film since the beginning of October.

In Europe, competitive non-European offers have recently exerted a further pressure on LDPE prices, which caused local prices in Italy to hit a four-month low this past week.
Now, there are some players who believe that prices are bottoming out considering the larger sizes of LDPE drops as well as the higher energy complex. European players believe that the December outlook may remain stable even if ethylene settles higher due to limited working days and they expect to see some increases by January.

However, hike attempts are also likely to show up after LDPE prices hit a four-month-low. A West European producer noted, “We have already settled November contracts with decreases despite stable ethylene outcome. As for December, we expect higher ethylene contracts and we might ask for some increases in order to recover our margins.”