Polypropylene resin prices continue to rise

North American polypropylene resin prices saw a hefty increase in February.

Average prices climbed 8 cents per pound, reflecting a 7 cent increase in prices for polymer-grade propylene feedstock, with PP makers gaining 1 cent in margin improvement as well. PP prices had jumped up 11 cents in January, matching a similar move in PGP.

"Clearly the PGP market remains tight," officials with New York-based PP supplier Blue Clover LLC said in a market update. "There is a continued supply constraint issue with delayed downtime experienced by PDH [propane dehydrogenation] production." Blue Clover officials also described current PP demand as "stagnant."

Supplies of PGP in the region have been tightened by planned turnarounds at plants operated by Enterprise Products and Invista in Texas. Market sources said the Enterprise plant is back online, while the Invista plant remains down.

"It's a very unusual time [for a PP price increase], because there's a lot of inventory and demand hasn't been good," said Paul Pavlov, a market analyst with Resin Technology Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas.

He added that spot prices for PGP "have been more volatile than expected, and that's affected polypropylene pricing."

The January and February PP price hikes are the first seen for the material after seven consecutive monthly price drops. Regional PP prices were down 4 cents in December and down a net of 42 cents for full-year 2022.

In a March 6 letter to customers, officials with PP leader LyondellBasell Industries in Houston said that the firm plans to implement a 6-cent per-pound price increase for shipments made on or after March 1. They added that the increase "is in addition to any change in [PGP] pricing between February 2023 and March 2023."

Esteban Sagel, principal with Chemical & Polymer Market Consultants in Houston, said that PGP availability "is the key driver" in the current PP market. He added that a recent margin squeeze in the spot PP market "is indicative of soft demand."

"Converters will [and should] keep purchases lean and wait for monomer supplies to improve," Sagel said in an email to Plastics News. "The [petrochemical] cracker turnaround season is also here, which will keep monomer tight for March at least."