Plastics News this week is showing a 2-cent downward correction on all grades of high density polyethylene shown on its resin pricing chart.
The April HDPE price increase at first was believed to be 9 cents, but the market eventually settled up 7. This change is being shown on this week's resin pricing chart. Prices for low density and linear low density PE were up 9 cents for the month.
Supplies of all grades of PE remain tight as producers look to recover from outages caused by Winter Storm Uri in February. PE prices now are up a total of 28 cents so far in 2021 and are up 48 cents since January 2020. PE makers are seeking increases of 5-6 cents per pound for May.
Many PE makers still are operating under force majeure sales limits or other types of sales allocations. On average, North American PE processors are receiving 70 percent of their requested purchases, according to sources contacted by Plastics News.