During the first working week of the new year, following a long holiday break, the market remained relatively slow. By midweek, there was still a lack of clarity regarding pricing policies from producers.
The 2024 full-year forecast developed by the MECS Study Centre of the trade association Amaplast indicates a drop of approximately nine percentage points in Italian production of plastics and rubber processing machinery to an estimated value of 4.35 billion euros.
Most players expect the market to recover only in mid-January or early February, following the holiday season and the associated downtime.
Given market players' expectations of a rise in material costs in September and the end of production downtime for most converters, demand is likely to increase next week.
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Market players expect an increase in demand after the long weekend in Poland. Many producers will return from the summer shutdown next week. Processors will want to replenish their stocks of raw material ahead of a projected price increase in September.
The tense political situation in various parts of the world may affect the plastics market in Poland. A Hungarian PE producer, for example, will face the issue of oil supply diversion.
Judging by the first market offers, the price in August will increase by €30-60/t; however, whether the market will accept the increase will be known by the end of next week.
European PE producers plan to increase prices next month in line with rising ethylene rates. According to Chem-Courier forecasts, the value of ethylene is expected to advance by €20-25/t in August.
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European producers of LLDPE and LDPE plan to increase prices next month in line with the rise in ethylene costs.
As forecasted by Chem-Courier, due to shortages of certain materials in the market, their prices have increased. However, if there are further increases, it will be by another 10-20 euros.
