Producers managed to cover the costs of raw material price increases in June

Producers managed to cover the costs of raw material price increases in June

Polymer prices have moved upwards this month, with producers threatening further hikes over the summer. While producers failed to push through their intended price hikes in June, they were largely happy to cover rising raw material costs. The momentum for price increases gathered pace as the month progressed after quite a slow start.

Volumes were more healthy than they were last month. This was due largely to seasonal factors and an element of pre-buying by converters. Signs of a slight recovery in economic activity were also reported.

L/LDPE registered the strongest gains, with increases of around 6%. HDPE saw smaller gains of around 4%. PVC was up more than 3%, PET and polystyrene gained around 2% and polypropylene was up about 1%.

While availability has improved in most polymer markets in recent months, supply has remained on the tight side due to a series of scheduled and unscheduled plant outages.