Resin Outlook for Plastic Injection Molding
The trend for pricing for commodity and engineering resins for the first quarter is they are rising. According to an article in Plastics Technology April 2012, this was primarily driven by feedstock cost increases and in some cases resin supply.
The following pricing and information was printed in Plastics Technology April 2012 article "Commodity & Engineering Resin Prices Climb Higher", written by Lilli Manolis Sherman, Contributing Editor.
Polyethylene Prices
Polyethylene prices were projected to increase through April causing the January price hikes to molders. Mike Burns, RTi's VP of PE states "although, there has not been anything to support increased pricing in fact market indicators determine PE prices peaked in January. These indicators include ethylene monomer contract and spot prices both trending downward in March, supplier inventories grew by 450 million pounds in January and February but global demand is flat. Even so suppliers determination to keep prices high has dominated the market."
Polypropylene Prices
Polypropylene prices rose 5¢/lb last month after surging by 16.5¢/lb in February. Michael Greenburg, CEO of The Plastics Exchange, Chicago states that "propylene supply will continue to tight as a result of planned refinery maintenance turnarounds through May and refineries opting to process more profitable ethane rather than propane, resulting in less propylene end product. The trend seems to be future price increases because of PP suppliers lowering production rates in face of a weak demand."
Polystyrene Prices
Polystyrene prices continued to rise last month with year to date prices up 14¢/lb for GPPS and 19¢ for HIPS. The biggest driver behind the PS increases was driven by benzene prices that jumped from $3/gal in December to $4.23 in March. Stacy Shelly, RTi's director of business development for engineering believes "that domestic PS demand has been artificially strong which is attributed to heavy pre-buying in the first two months of the year." Stacy Shelly predicts prices will be flat to down.
PVC Prices
PVC prices rose 2¢/lb in February and a new 3¢ hike emerged for April with a chance of partial implementation. Mark Kallman, RTi's director of client services for engineering resins and PVC notes that March contract and spot prices for ethylene a key PVC feedstock both dropped by $1.25/lb. "Domestic demand is expected to improve in the second quarter but many processors were pre-stocking in the first quarter due to impending price hikes", states Kallman. Kallman feels domestic demand could be more consistent in the coming months so that pricing may become more stable.
ABS Prices
ABS prices started the year with price increases, driving these moves were spikes in feedstock prices, butadiene prices, and acrylonitrile prices were up and expecting to rise. Shelly feels demand was up do to a lot of pre-buying that took place in anticipation of price hikes and thinks prices are likely to increase through the month of April but will flatten and soften at the end of the second quarter.
Nylon Prices
Prices for nylon 6 and 66 are trending upward. These increases are due to supplier's efforts to catch up with price increases in benzene, propylene, and caprolactum from Asia. But beneze prices are now flattening out and butadiene contract prices are expected to drop. Domestic demand for Nylon 6 and 66 is up this year mostly in the automotive industry, but demand in the Asian automotive market has slowed and in the European automotive sector is now negative according to RTi's Kellman.
PC Prices
Polycarbonate prices are expected to move up in April as suppliers were pushing strongly for increases originally planned for the first quarter. Suppliers attribute the price hikes to higher benzene and propylene feedstock costs. RTi's Kellman states "Demand is not strong globally and there is new capacity coming on stream so that this market is well supplied."
Please note, the information for this article is from the Plastics Technology April 2012 article Commodity & Engineering Resin Prices Climb Higher written by Lilli Manolis Sherman, Contributing Editor. To read the entire article, please click here. www.ptonline.com/articles/commodity-engineering-resin-prices-climb-higher
These prices and trends are especially important to a custom injection molder like Crescent Industries who manufactures custom plastic components using all of these resins. For more information on Crescent Industries, please visit www.crescentind.com/index.html or call Toll Free: 1-800-411-3844.
