Players anticipate an increase in demand following the extended weekend in Poland. Firstly, many production facilities are resuming operations next week after summer downtimes. Secondly, converters will likely replenish their material stocks in anticipation of forecasted price increases in September. However, it is noteworthy that some converters have stockpiles, while others lack a sufficient financial cushion and continue to purchase materials on a "just-in-time" basis due to unstable demand for finished plastic products.
An improvement in the availability of imported material is expected next month, but players believe this will fail to lead to a reduction in the price of European-origin plastic in September and October. Firstly, with rising freight costs, imported material prices will increase. Secondly, September typically sees a rise in demand for plastic polymers after the summer downtime. Additionally, some European producers lack sufficient material and prefer to fill their warehouses rather than sell material at reduced spot prices.
PE
- The working week has been short and has brought few transactions due to the 15 August public holiday in Poland;
- Most converters have halted production due to the extended weekend;
- Hungarian manufacturer has stopped HDPE production on its 200,000 t per year line from late July to early September for 40 days and plans to halt its 220,000 t per year line for 14 days from late August to September;
- The price has remained unchanged this week.
PP
- There has been high demand for PP homopolymer in H1 August, but buyer activity has decreased due to the short working week;
- The active buyers have been from the packaging, furniture and household industries;
- Scheduled maintenance at the Slovak production facility is planned for September and traders have already been reporting limited availability of PP from this producer;
- The average market price of PP homo has remained unchanged from the previous week, although a minimal rate adjustment has been observed due to new market information;
- PP random copolymer has been in limited supply on the market;
- The average market price of PP copolymer has remained unchanged from last week, though a minimal rate adjustment has been observed due to new market information.
