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Issue link: http://pty.epubxp.com/i/839458
A combination of significant price decreases in key feedstocks and more balanced supply and demand overall brought down prices of PE, PP, PS, PET, and ABS. While PVC and nylon 6 prices held steady, PC and nylon 66 prices moved up in the second quarter. With indications that feedstock prices will continue to weaken and overall resin supplies will improve through the third quarter, all commodity resin prices are projected to be flat or lower. Those are the views of purchasing consultants from Resin Technology, Inc. (RTi), Fort Worth, Texas (rtiglobal.com), CEO Michael Greenberg of the Plastics Exchange in Chicago (theplasticsexchange.com), and Houston-based PetroChemWire (PCW; petrochemwire.com). Most Resin Prices Down or Flat; PC and Nylon 66 Up for Now Falling feedstock prices are a key driver as we enter the third quarter. By Lilli Manolis Sherman Senior Editor PE PRICES DROP Polyethylene prices were trimmed 3¢/lb by some, but not all, sup- pliers. Some resin makers claimed HDPE injection-grade material was tight enough to retain the March 3¢/lb increases, according to Mike Burns, RTi's v.p. of client services for PE. He expected all PE prices to drop 3¢/lb overall, perhaps excepting HDPE injection grades. PCW said no operating issues were reported; and while Nova has cracker maintenance underway at its Joffre, Alberta, site, no downstream outages were planned. According to Burns, both secondary market prices and export prices dropped by May's end—the former to the low 50¢/lb range, except for HDPE injection grade, which was selling at 58¢/lb; and the latter dropped by 4¢ to 43¢/lb. The Plastics Exchange's Greenberg reported that spot prime PE prices dropped 1¢ toward the end of May, with HMW-HDPE for film dropping 2.5¢/lb, which brought it a bit closer to the price of blow molding grades. He also cited HDPE injection as the anomaly due to "super- scarce spot supply," with prices surging by 1.5¢/lb. Greenberg noted that this resulted in an unprecedented premium of 11¢/lb over The Plastic Exchange's benchmark blow molding price. Meanwhile, Burns ventured that PE contract prices could be down 3-5¢/lb by this month, particularly if oil prices continue to hover near $50/bbl. He noted that higher supplier inventories and good production conditions appear to support downward movement. And Dow was due to bring on new capacity by August, which will likely stop prices from moving up in the near term. Market Prices Effective Mid-June 2017 Resin Grade ¢/lb POLYETHYLENE (railcar) LDPE, LINER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90-92 LLDPE BUTENE, FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76-78 NYMEX 'FINANCIAL' FUTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.50 JULY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 HDPE, G-P INJECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92-94 HDPE, BLOW MOLDING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82-84 NYMEX 'FINANCIAL' FUTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.75 JULY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.25 HDPE, HMW FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98-101 POLYPROPYLENE (railcar) G-P HOMOPOLYMER, INJECTION . . . . . . . . . . . 67-69 NYMEX 'FINANCIAL' FUTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . 46.25 JULY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.25 IMPACT COPOLYMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69-71 POLYST YRENE (railcar) G-P CRYSTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99-101 HIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105-107 PVC RESIN (railcar) G-P HOMOPOLYMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83-85 PIPE GR ADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82-84 PET (truckload) U.S. BOT TLE-GR ADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.5 Polyethylene Price Trends HDPE Injection MAY JUNE HDPE Blow Molding MAY JUNE HDPE HMW MAY JUNE LDPE MAY JUNE LLDPE Butene MAY JUNE 3¢/lb 3¢/lb 3¢/lb 3¢/lb 3¢/lb @plastechmag 53 Plastics Technology YO U R B U S I N E S S YO U R B U S I N E S S Resin Pricing Analy sis