Trading activity in the European market of low-pressure polyethylene pipes (HDPE) has dropped in recent weeks, as activity in the Asian market slowed and prices went down, ICIS reported.

Until recently, Asia, especially China, was buying huge amounts of material to meet the needs of new projects for the production of petrochemical products from coal, the implementation of which has now slowed.

Reserves of HDPE pipe are also at a high level, which means that European sellers can not ship volumes of material, as they did before.

The prices of HDPE pipe brands in Europe did not fall in August, but among buyers there is an expectation that in September there may be prerequisites for their decrease, as the excess supply becomes obvious.

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Review, the IPA market traditionally demonstrates a price rise in August ahead of a stop for the prevention of the largest producer, Kazanorgsintez (September 25-October 10). Since the beginning of the month there has been a lack of supply of virtually all types of IPA, many sellers limit their sales.