Producers push for price increases of E100 a tonne on materials

Prices for styrenic polymer materials are continuing to increase on the back of an inexorable rise in feedstock costs.

BASF cited greater than expected feedstock cost increases for a E100 a tonne hike in the price of its polystyrene that takes effect tomorrow. The company said the higher feedstock costs have prevented it from making the necessary improvement in its margins.

Meanwhile, clear and oil extended Kraton styrenic block copolymers are to go up by E150 a tonne with effect from 1 October. “Unprecedented increases in feedstock costs driven by high oil and naphtha prices continue to force up our costs,” said Roger Morgan, Kraton’s vice-president for EurAsia.

But polyolefins are also still in the firing line, warns the UK’s Packaging and Industrial Films Association (Pifa). So far, it said, competitiveness in the film and converting business has militated against all the polymer price rises being passed on, in the hope that the situation would reverse.

“It is now obvious that this is not going to happen and raw material prices will undoubtedly escalate further over the coming months,” a Pifa spokesman said.

Some polymers are up by 27% this year, the association estimates, and the market remains tight with many grades reportedly sold out for this month. At the same time, other materials used in laminated packaging such as paper, solvents and inks are also going up.