ExxonMobil Chemical and Total Petrochemicals are joining other polypropylene producers seeking 2-cent/lb ($44/mt) increases effective August 1, sources said Wednesday.
"Everyone is going for two (cents/lb) on the (margin) expansion," a market source said.
ExxonMobil plans to increase the price of its impact co-polymer and PP900 random-copolymer resin grades in North America, the company said in a letter to customers obtained by Platts.
The increase is separate from any price change resulting from movements in feedstock polymer-grade propylene contract pricing, the letter said.
Total announced a similar increase for all grades of polypropylene in a letter to customers also obtained by Platts.
In addition, Total said July prices would increase by the amount of change in the PGP contract price from June to July and cautioned that specialty grades could increase by a greater amount.
LyondellBasell last week announced plans to increase PP prices by 2 cents/lb effective August 1, in addition to any change caused by PGP contracts.
Ineos is seeking an additional 2-cent increase effective for July, while Formosa Plastics Corporation announced a standalone hike of 3-cent/lb for July.
The announcements come as polypropylene contracts for June settled last week at a 3-cent/lb ($66/mt) increase, following a similar hike on feedstock PGP.
The 4% increase pushed homopolymer injection grade polypropylene to 74-75 cents/lb ($1,631-$1,653/mt) on a delivered-railcar basis, as assessed by Platts.
Polypropylene contracts track PGP settlements, as a majority of contracts remain on a monomer-plus basis, with the premium over PGP between 8-12 cents/lb, as per market sources.
Producers were successful in expanding margins by 1 cent/lb on average at the beginning of the year, but earlier this year market sources cautioned that producers were likely to try to expand margins again during the second half of the year.
Recent force majeure declarations by Formosa Plastics and Pinnacle Polymers on the production side have further squeezed an already tight supply in a busy market, lending some support to the increase announcements.
Earlier this week, Phillips 66 said it would reduce delivery of polypropylene grades because of issues with feedstock supply, providing further upward pressure to prices, sources said.
