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As major Asian crackers enter the maintenance shutdown season from February till April 2016, ethylene costs in the region has continuously firming up since mid-Feb, accumulating a totally of $110/t gain in value till last Friday. Buyers in the downstream PE market therefore are expecting further price hike in the near term with some are planning to secure additional cargoes this week.

A Vietnamese converter active in flexible packaging said, “We are expecting PE prices might increase further in the near term, especially LLDPE film grades, hence we purchased extra few containers of this grade last week. Demand for our end product is regular but we hope to see a pick up soon.”

Another converter in Indonesia added, “We are covered until end of March and we might consider purchase material for April’s production as higher ethylene costs might encourage sellers to lift their offers. However, we would like to monitor the production rate at shopping bags manufacturers after the government levy plastic bags. With this constraint, we are not sure if local PE prices would be able to increase significantly.”

A major producer in Philippines is also attempting some price hike in local market, according to players. However, the maker is reportedly sold out cargoes for March and April delivery since early this month, which causes a great concern among buyers over the availability for this fresh hike request.

Kindly refer to the Plant Status section for detailed information on the scheduled maintenance shutdown mention earlier.