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? continue to improve and Enterprise brings on its propylene plant in October." PCW reported lower PP spot prices at the end of April and signs that offgrade availability had tapered off and that spot prime availability appeared to be concentrated in mid-range homo- polymer grades. Greenberg observed that the market's high volatility "has created risk, which generally trans- lates into lower-volume transactions." Both he and RTi's Newell reported that there were several well-discounted spot opportunities, yet processor demand appeared to remain "cautious." Said Greenberg, "The first quarter's extreme cost- push price increases, which totaled just over 20¢/lb, crimped resin demand as processors were concerned about their ability to pass along higher resin costs and their ultimate profitability." A rebound in PP demand was expected last month, after a very soft April, as many buyers delayed purchases in anticipa- tion of lower prices, explained Newell. "The question is, how strong will that rebound be and how much of its will be real demand vs. restocking?" He pegged PP plant operating rates through the first quarter at around 93%, up 3% from the 2016 average. Inventories grew in March and April to 150 million lb. "There's been some capacity debottlenecking that has given some breathing room to the market." PS PRICES DROP, MORE TO COME Polystyrene prices dropped 5¢/lb in April, after spiking a total of 19¢/lb in the first quarter. At least one supplier announced a 2¢/lb decrease for May. Both PCW and Mark Kallman, RTi's v.p. of client services for engineering resins, PS, and PVC, expected prices to go lower. Kallman forecasted at least a 2¢/lb drop in May and again in June. PCW reported that PS spot prices were falling and that availability appeared to be adequate to meet fore- casted demand, in addition to a reported surplus of off-grade crystal PS. May benzene contracts dropped 1-3¢/gal from April, to $2.69-2.70/gal, and forward bids were nearly below $2.60/gal. Suppliers would need to give up some of the hefty profit margin incurred during the first quarter in order to avoid demand destruction. Global PS prices have been dropping. Meanwhile, demand for EPS home insu- lation was said to be at a 10-yr high for the month of March alone. PVC PRICES FLAT-TO-DOWN PVC prices moved up 2¢/lb in March, rolled over in April, and May saw potential for a reduction. RTi's Kallman ventured that PVC prices would drop 1-3¢ in the May-June time frame. Driving the downward movement are lower feedstock costs and export prices. Most notably, late-settling March ethylene contracts dropped by 5.75¢/lb. According to Kallman, April ethylene contracts had the potential to move up 1-2¢/lb due to some unplanned production disruptions. However, he noted that ethylene supplies are improving and we can expect to see lower vinyl chloride monomer prices from now on. (Ditto for styrene monomer.) Meanwhile, lackluster PVC export demand led suppliers to drop prices by 4¢/lb in April. Kallman expected an uptick in PVC demand as seasonal construction markets got underway. PET PRICES DOWN Domestic bottle-grade prime PET prices in April averaged 56.5¢/lb, down 3.5¢/lb from March, based on PCW's Daily PET Report. That price represents PET business on a delivered Chicago basis. The price on May 2 stood at 56.5¢/lb. Meanwhile, prices of imported prime PET with an IV of 78 dl/g or higher also fell in April, averaging 56¢/lb, down 1.6¢ from March. This represented PET resin on a delivered duty-paid U.S. port basis. The price for imported PET on May 2 stood at 56¢/lb. Prices fell after an average decline in April's feedstock costs to 52.86¢/lb, 2.67¢/lb lower than in March. PCW noted that the world's largest PET plant, under construction by M&G; in Corpus Christi, Texas, is reportedly facing $100 million in legal claims filed against it from dozens of companies that have worked on this "Project Jumbo." M&G; has acknowledged it was "continuing to sort through the various claims" of subcontractors, but that this would not affect the midyear start-up schedule. Still, market sources close to the project have been told to expect a startup no sooner than the fourth quarter. DAK Americas has "supply contract rights" for about 1.1 billion lb of Jumbo's planned capacity, reported to be between 2.4 and 2.8 billion lb. PVC Price Trends Pipe APR MAY Gen. Purpose APR MAY 2¢/lb 2¢/lb Polypropylene Price Trends Homopolymer APR MAY Copolymer APR MAY 6¢/lb 6¢/lb Polystyrene Price Trends GPPS APR MAY HIPS APR MAY 5¢/lb 5¢/lb PET Price Trends Bottle Grade APR MAY 3.5¢/lb QUESTIONS ABOUT MATERIALS? Visit the Materials Zone and the Materials Database. 72 JUNE 2017 Plastics Technology PTonline.com YO U R B U S I N E S S Resin Pricing Analy sis