PE Spot prices decline amid pressure from weak market fundamentals

European polyethylene spot prices were under pressure in the week ending Sept. 10, amid persisting weak demand and ample supply fundamentals. It is assessed the European low-density polyethylene spot price at Eur1,030/mt FD NWE on Sept. 10, down Eur50/mt week over week.

Supply was long across all polyethylene grades over the past week, as sellers sought to reduce inventory while import offers increased, according to market sources. "Everybody is waiting, and prices are mainly falling because everyone wants to get rid of inventories," a distributor said.

US polyethylene continued to dominate the import markets and offers, with most traders citing US material across most of the polyethylene grades. Spot prices remained in wide ranges, but the high-end prices were under pressure from the competitive offers.

Demand also did not improve, as the market remained in a wait-and-see mode. Speculation regarding counter-tariffs on US polyethylene and weak end-user demand contributed to bearish market sentiment, which some producers had noted in the low push to close price negotiations for the month. "What we see is that demand is subdued and stays subdued across all geographies and product groups, " a converter said. "I also got feedback from producers that their order intake [for September] was not as they anticipated, and on pricing, they are flexible."

On the contract market, prices were mostly at a rollover as negotiations persisted. Producers continued to target increases around Eur10/mt from August, while some converters were heard to be seeking small decreases.