North American prices for some engineering resins have continued to decline in recent months, with regional prices for polystyrene resins down as well since July 1.
Regional prices for nylon, polycarbonate and ABS resins all have declined since May, according to market sources contacted by Plastics News. Low demand growth from processors and full inventories at the producer level were cited as reasons for the declines.
Prices for nylon 6 resins since May are down 10 cents per pound, on average, with nylon 6/6 prices down an average of 13 cents. PC prices have declined an average of 6 cents and ABS prices have slumped an average of 7 cents.
Regional demand for many engineering resins has been "lackluster" so far in 2023, according to a resin buyer in the Midwest U.S. "Automotive is growing, but not at previous levels," the buyer said. "High interest rates have hurt auto sales."
"Appliances also are seeing lower growth and [resin] inventory levels are high for producer and even for processors, who ended up buying more than they needed," he added. "But some customers think we're at the bottom [of pricing] and are talking about 2024."
In the PS market, prices slid 6 cents in July after being down 3 cents in June. Both of those moves were connected to fluctuations in price for benzene feedstock, which is used to make styrene monomer.
Benzene prices were down 65 cents to $2.90 per gallon in July. That represents a drop of more than 18 percent vs. the previous month.
North American PS prices now are down a net of 4 cents per pound so far in 2023, with benzene prices down 17 cents. David Barry, a market analyst with PetroChem Wire in Houston, recently told PN that "there's plenty of PS supply relative to current demand, so producers are probably being flexible on pricing."