Plasticizers prices surge on short supply from BASF explosion

In November, sellers elected to raise their plasticizers prices significantly by €100-150/ton compared to a month earlier due to the disruptions at BASF following an explosion. However, market players find these hikes too high and take a wait and see stance as they expect that lower prices might be obtainable.

A plasticizers producer reported selling South European DINP and DIDP with €100-150/ton increases at €1100-1150/ton FD Italy, 60 days. The seller commented, “The supply is very short in the market following the explosion at BASF’s site and it is not easy to find material for converters. We have already sold out. Besides, we applied lower increases for our regular customers while implementing higher prices for the others. We believe that current tightness will persist for at least 2-3 months and the market will remain under pressure for the rest of the month.”

A manufacturer made similar comments by saying, “We heard that some suppliers announced even higher offers with €150-200/ton increases.”

A distributor in Switzerland is currently offering Central European material with an increase of €110/ton from October. “We attribute these sharp increases to the short supply stemming from BASF’s explosion. Plus, other suppliers also have some supply issues and converters cannot easily find material. Demand is not in balance with limited supply for the time being, which is likely to last for the rest of the month. We have already sold some cargoes for December,” he commented.

A PVC compounder claimed that other suppliers took advantage of the situation at BASF and increased their prices. The compounder reported that Korean DINP was offered with an increase of €80/ton from last month. “We will wait a bit before replenishing since we are covered with import material. We think that prevailing tightness will come back to normal next month,” commented the buyer.

November deals were mostly concluded with €100/ton hikes so far and players expect supply to turn back to normal levels in December. Therefore, buyers take a wait and see stance while sellers refrain from applying further hikes.