Middle Eastern PE prices retreat further in Turkey

In Turkey, import PE prices from Middle Eastern suppliers were announced with rollovers to decreases last week. Some regional producers revised their prices further down this week in response to calm activity due to year-end and unstable dollar/TL currency.

A global producer lowered its list prices for Saudi Arabian LDPE film by another $10/ton to $1190/ton CIF Turkey, subject to 6.5% customs duty, cash. “Demand has been slow while players were sidelined ahead of Plast Eurasia Istanbul Plastics Industry Fair on December 7-10. We are feeling more sales pressure due to slow activity,” a producer source noted.

A second Middle Eastern producer reported selling out their limited quotas at $1210/ton for LDPE film, $1120/ton for LLDPE c4 film and HDPE film and $1110-1130/ton for HDPE b/m, all CIF Turkey, subject to 6.5% customs duty, cash. “We have limited availability and revealed our December prices earlier than usual given the softening trend. Overall demand is not active,” said a producer source. Meanwhile, buyers reported concluding LDPE film deals below the $1200/ton threshold for this origin.

A regional source who finished their LLDPE and LDPE film quotas at similar levels noted, “We sold out our materials at softer levels compared to last month. If we had more LDPE, we would have to come down from our initial offers.”

A large scaled manufacturer purchased LLDPE film at $1100/ton and HDPE film at $1080/ton for a different Middle Eastern origin this month. “We asked for discounts from our Mid-Eastern suppliers citing more competitive American PE offers,” reported the buyer. Currently, US prices are at $1060-1070/ton for HDPE film and $1040-1055/ton for HDPE b/m CFR, subject to 6.5% duty, cash, down week over week and form the low end of the overall import HDPE ranges.

An agent of a Saudi Arabian producer expressed its December list prices at $1200/ton for LDPE film CIF Turkey, subject to 6.5% customs duty, cash, down $10/ton month over month. Converters reported concluding deals at $1180-1190/ton with the seller.

A manufacturer opined, “China’s PE market showed an upturn recently, spurred by remarkable gains in the Dalian futures market. However, we are not sure about whether this rebound will last long or not. For the near term, a stable to soft trend is likely in Turkey since the slow year end trading as well as financial issues are still dominant. Buyers are refraining from stocking up as they prefer to wait until the dollar/TL parity stabilizes after the recent easing and even the ones who want to meet their needs delayed their inquiries to the fair.”