Proposed increases of E100 a tonne have not been achieved

Proposed increases of E100 a tonne have not been achieved

Commodity polymer prices rose moderately in October, despite proposed price hikes of E100 by most sellers. Converters have almost fully replenished their stocks and are reluctant to take more material than they need to meet current production. As a result, producers had to rein back on planned price increases last month.

At the end of September, producers were planning price hikes of around E100 a tonne in October, but ended up with rises of between E15 and E60. PVC and PET prices increased by the most, while PP rises were minimal. While markets are in better balance than a few months ago, producer stocks are lower than normal and material is still short in a number of sectors. Production problems and plant outages continue to constrain availability.

Producers claim that higher prices are needed in November to restore their margins back to profitability. Whether further price increases can be achieved will depend on the development of raw material prices and demand holding up.