US Polyethylene to Witness Another Price Hike in April Amidst Tight Supply

Since the last few months, several petchem producers have been selling their products at very high prices to benefit from the demand and supply gap in the US market.

Indicating this prolonged supply shortage in the US Polyethylene (PE) market, Equistar, a wholly owned subsidiary of LyondellBasel announced another price revision on Polyethylene products by USD 198 per tonne w.e.f. 1^st April. This price revision is in addition to the previous revision of USD 154 per tonne on Polyethylene prices which was implemented on 1^st March.

Equistar is not the only company in the US to have announced a significant price revision for the month of April. Formosa Plastics, one of the leading plastic manufacturing company in the US, on 15^th March became the latest entrant to join the league of price increases of Polyethylene. The company announced that prices of Formolene Polyethylene will be increased by USD 198 per tonne w.e.f. 1^st April. Since Formosa Plastics has been facing several production difficulties since a long time, the company revealed that all new orders will be based upon its ability to supply after fulfilling the demand of its contract customers.

Export offers for Polyethylene from the States were halted for March due to its extremely short supply across the region.

As per ChemAnalyst, “Since abundant quantity of Polyethylene is imported from US to the Asian and European market, supply shortage of followed by a consistent increment in its prices is expected to keep the market fundamentals of Asia Pacific as well as European region tight for the next month.”