American Dow Chemical, an international petrochemical giant, announced an increase in December’s polyethylene (PE) prices by EUR70 per tonne for the European market, ICIS source in the company said.

In addition, the market also heard about the increase in quotations from other material producers.

“We have heard that some sellers call PE prices at EUR40 per ton higher compared to the previous month,” said one of the traders.

Regarding the same demand in the European market, there are different opinions. So, some market players noted that demand in November was at a good level, while others said they were struggling to achieve their target sales. Activity in the spot market was sluggish during the past month.

Some market participants explained this by the fact that the material processors made purchases only from regular suppliers in order to be able to receive discounts at the end of the year.

However, the reason for the increase in PE prices was not only a demand factor. The increase in quotations was also the result of “margin reduction and the current level of stocks,” explained one of the producers.

“We have very large orders for the current month, and for linear polyethylene (LDL) even more than in November,” he added.

According to the Price Review of ICIS-MRC, negotiations on the December contract prices of Russian PE started in the Russian PE market last week. Some manufacturers prolonged the November contract prices PE, part of the producers went to raise prices to 1,000 rubles. per ton.

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.