JEDDAH — Middle Eastern producers have revealed new PP and PE offers for November in Asia and Europe amid new price announcement to the Middle Eastern markets including Turkey, Egypt and UAE, where players were in the sidelines due to the Eid holiday last week, ChemOrbishe, the world's leading e-marketplace and market information provider for the plastics industry, reported Friday. In China, at least two Saudi Arabian producers announced $30/ton decreases for November PP offers last week as they conclude deals conceding to an additional discount of $10/ton this week. A source from a regional producer's Shanghai office said “we are receiving much lower bids, standing $10-20/ton below our done deal prices.” Another Saudi Arabian producer approached the Chinese market with $10-20/ton decreases for November HDPE and LLDPE film prices. “We have provided a further discount for HDPE film this week; otherwise, we cannot convince our customers to accept our prices. As for LLDPE, the bids we are receiving are standing $50/ton below our offers and we cannot afford to match these levels,” a company source noted. A Middle Eastern producer who announced LDPE and LLDPE film prices $10/ton lower for November last week said, “We are free from stock pressure. However, our offer levels are seeing almost no buy interest, since much lower offers are available from distributors and traders.” In Southeast Asia, a Saudi Arabian producer reduced PP offers by $50-60/ton last week while their HDPE and LLDPE offers were down by $40-50/ton from October. A company source told ChemOrbis that “although our new offers are in line with the prevailing market level, we may concede to additional discounts depending on the volume of the purchase.” A Middle Eastern producer cut its November LLDPE prices by $30/ton to Southeast Asia last week. “The LLDPE market is likely to soften further in the near term given the plunging crude oil prices and the widespread waiting stance of buyers,” commented a company source. Players in Italy also reported a November homo PP offers from a Saudi Arabian producer with €50/ton decreases from last month.
The buyer receiving the offer said “even though this price is standing at least €40-50/ton below the lowest price available in the local market, we have not accepted it as we would like to wait and see if similar offers will be obtainable in the local market from European suppliers by the end of this month.” In the Turkish market, buyers reported receiving new HDPE and LLDPE offers from a major Saudi Arabian producer at lower levels from October Thursday. As for PP, players are still waiting to see new offers from the region. A packaging manufacturer opines, “Considering the trend in the rest of the markets, a major Saudi Arabian producer should come with a $50/ton decrease this month.” Another buyer said “major Middle Eastern suppliers may try to see the market response to their initial offers and they may apply larger decreases as the month wears on.” This week, players in Dubai also reported receiving lower PP and PE prices for November from a Saudi Arabian producer. The producer's new PP prices indicate $40-65/ton decreases from last month while Egyptian players have also received new November PP and PE prices from Middle Eastern producers this week with rollovers to decreases of up to $50/ton from last month. According to Chinese Customs, more than 1.6 million tons of polymers were imported during the month of August, hitting the highest monthly figures for 2012. Overall August imports showed an increase of more than 13 percent month over month as China's imports traditionally move higher in August. However, this year the month of August marked an all-time high for the month based on the import statistics dating back to 2001, ChemOrbis said. When looking at the imports by country, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan are listed as the major import suppliers of China in 2012, data revealed. LDPE witnessed the sharpest increase month over month as imports for this product rose by 26 percent when compared to July to 154,000 tons. — SG/Agencies
