American Dow Chemical, an international petrochemical giant, announced an increase in February prices of polyethylene (PE) in the US market by 4 cents per pound (USD88 per tonne), ICIS reported citing the company’s letter to customers.

According to the letter, this increase in PE prices comes into force on February 1, 2018 or according to the terms of the current contracts.

Thus, the increase in quotes applies to all grades of high-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear polyethylene (LLDPE), low-density polyethylene (HDPE), which include all the following product lines: AGILITY, ASPUN, ATTANE, CONTINUUM, DOW HEALTH +, DOWLEX, ELITE, FLEXOMER, INNATE, TUFLIN and UNVAL.

Other PE sellers in the US also announced earlier in January about a similar increase in their February prices. The main reasons for the increase in prices they called increased energy costs and high demand.

Meanwhile, buyers in the US market were expecting a fall in material prices in the first quarter of this year, as the supply on the market increased with the launch of a new plant in the US, and after the situation with PE supplies improved after the end of the period of disruptions with shipments due to stormy hurricane “Harvey.”

The key manufacturers of PE in the US are Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem), DowDupont, LyondellBasell, ExxonMobil, Formosa, INEOS, Total Petrochemicals and Westlake.

According to the Price Review of ICIS-MRC, last week there were no significant changes in the Russian PE market. Demand in many sectors of consumption remains at a low level, which is typical for January. Serious improvement in demand in February is unlikely to be expected. In most PE segments, the supply remains excessive, and this has an impact on prices. Especially in the LDPE segment. Growth in export volumes from individual producers in January did not allow the domestic market to balance.

Dow Chemical is an American diversified chemical company headquartered in Midland, Michigan. It is a large producer of polymer products, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene and synthetic rubbers. The company produces more than five thousand products at 188 production facilities in 37 countries. Earlier it was noted that the chemical companies Dow Chemical Co and DuPont completed the merger on September 1, 2017, within the framework of which the company DowDuPont was established.