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Monomer supply was starting to come back, and November monomer prices were expected to come down, with further declines expected this month. November monomer contract price nominations appeared to be settling 5¢/lb lower as spot prices were dropping. Both Newell and Greenberg ventured that PP prices would drop at least 4¢/lb by November's end. Newell projected further declines this month, with a double-digit overall decline possible by year's end. "There's a good chance that PP prices will go from their peak in October to the lowest price in December," he noted. He expected a surge of buying activity before year's end, both because of a need to restock and also to beat a possible price hike in the frst quarter when some main- tenance outages are planned. Overall for the year, he expected slight demand growth— around 1% over 2013. "After a furry of discounted late-October PP sales, the pace of railcar ofers diminished. While negative sentiment abounds, the market is far from being oversupplied and actual transaction prices are sliding in a controlled manner. Reseller inventories are fairly light and since producers' ofers are still somewhat expensive, traders are apprehensive about buying material without a customer order in hand," reported Greenberg at October's end. PS PRICES DROP Polystyrene prices fell another 2¢/lb in October, following the September 4¢ decline, the result of fast-dropping benzene prices. Further price erosion is possible, noted Mark Kallman, RTi's v.p. of client services. Kallman noted that the November benzene contract price settled at $3.85/gal, down from September's $4.22, and spot benzene prices were trading about 10¢/gal lower than contracts last month. Also, the October ethylene contract price dropped by 4¢/lb, and spot ethylene prices have been falling. Moreover, PS demand has been down. Overall, Kallman projected fat-to- down pricing for PS by year's end, noting that suppliers have reduced capacity utilization so that supply and demand are rela- tively balanced. Even with the latest price reductions, PS tabs are still 6¢/lb higher since the start of 2014. PVC PRICES FLAT-TO-DOWN PVC prices remained fat through October following the September 2¢/lb increase, but the tide was turning. RTi's Kallman expected lower prices, by at least 2¢, before year's end. The total increase in PVC prices this year so far is 11¢/lb. Key contributing factors include further projected improve- ment in ethylene supplies, leading to lower contract and spot prices; the seasonal drop in PVC demand; and increased compe- tition from lower-cost ofshore PVC due to the drop in global oil prices. North American PVC suppliers are having difculty fnding export markets because of the higher domestic resin prices, said Kallman. Polystyrene Price Trends GPPS SEPT OCT HIPS SEPT OCT Polypropylene Price Trends Homopolymer SEPT OCT Copolymer SEPT OCT PVC Price Trends Pipe SEPT OCT Gen. Purpose SEPT OCT 4¢/lb 2¢/lb 2¢/lb 4¢/lb Metal Detection Solutions for all Production Stages and Conveyor Types S+S Inspection Inc. Phone 224-208-1900 Protect your plastics processing machinery @plastechmag 79 Plastics Technology YO U R B U S I N E S S