PP, PE players’ June expectations soft in Africa, Egypt

African and Egyptian PP, PE players have started to share their expectations on a soft trend for June after concluding their May deals with rollovers to decreases from initially levels for the month. Players cite comfortable supply levels combined with disappointing demand as the main factors behind their weaker expectations.

In Egypt, a film manufacturer reported that demand remains weak amidst softer expectations for June. "Supplies are good while end product demand remains disappointing with players expecting decreases for the upcoming month,” commented the converter.

Another manufacturer in Egypt confirmed the weakness in demand ahead of Ramadan and said, “We expect softer prices for June given the disappointing market activities. Many players abandoned the import purchases this month due to their very high levels.”

In Kenya, a trader said that Mid-Eastern suppliers revised their offers by down to $70/ton for PE compared to initial May offers whereas PP offers were mostly rolled over compared to the previous month.
“Supplies are comfortable for all grades while demand is still thin, which causes softer expectations for June. Despite price decreases, many producers are still open to further negotiations in order to improve their sales," added the trader.

In Nigeria, a manufacturer noted that buying interest towards import materials is sluggish as many PP and PE players are securing their needs from the local producer, ELEME, to avoid high landing costs of the import cargoes.

On the other hand, a different player in the region claimed that new June offers may come with rollovers from May following the recent gains in the global crude oil markets while they are expecting decreases in deals as was the case in the previous months.

Crude oil futures closed Friday above $50/bbl on NYMEX while they are still above this threshold in daily trading today. Brent futures, meanwhile, settled above $53/bbl on Friday, trading close to $54/bbl today.