Southeast Asian PE Producers Announced Their Initial August Prices with Increases

Southeast Asian PE producers announced their initial August prices for LDPE film and HDPE film to their regional markets with increases in the latter part of this week, feeding speculation that overseas producers will also attempt August increases to the Chinese market as per the plastics pricing service ChemOrbis. As the Chinese market has already witnessed significant over the past two weeks, most players feel that the increases in China will not be as large as the recently reported August increases to Southeast Asia. Import PE prices in the Chinese market were stable to slightly firmer this week following two consecutive weeks of significant price increases. Converters have begun to show renewed resistance to higher prices following the most recent hikes, with some buyers stating that the expected seasonal up-tick in demand from the start of the agricultural film season will not be strong enough to support any further price increases as per the plastics pricing service ChemOrbis. Converters added that they are trying to cut down on their purchasing amounts whenever possible these days as they are struggling to reflect their rising raw material costs onto their end product prices. Trading activity in China was said to be limited this week as most players are waiting to receive new August prices before making their next move, with several traders commenting that they are only giving offers in response to requests from customers these days. Although no August offers have been reported yet, a Thai producer expressed their August sell ideas for HDPE film at a price $30/ton higher than the upper end of the current import HDPE film range. In Southeast Asia, regional producers announced their initial August offers this week with increases of $50-100/ton for LDPE film and $80-90/ton for HDPE film when compared with their late July prices. Meanwhile, a converter reported that they received a new HDPE film offer from a Saudi Arabian producer this week with a price increase of $40/ton from the most recent offer level they received from the producer. Producers attributed their price increases to healthy demand from buyers in the region as well as comparatively limited supply. Both converters and traders in the region are said to be actively replenishing their stocks after a prolonged period of limited purchasing left players across the region with reduced stock levels. In addition to an up-tick in demand from the agricultural film season, traders in Vietnam also report that HDPE demand is picking up in that country in accordance with the start of the fishing line and net season. Source: Plastixanz. Com. Au