North American prices for polypropylene resin ended 2024 with another price drop, declining an average of 2.5 cents per pound in December.
The PP drop was the fourth consecutive monthly price decrease for the material, following a 3.5 cent decline in November and a combined drop of 10 cents in September and October. In December — as in the previous three months — the PP price decline followed a similar directional move for polymer-grade propylene feedstock.
Combined with previous increases and decreases, regional PP prices finished 2024 with a net price drop of 9 cents per pound. In a late November 2024 market report, PP supplier Blue Clover of New York said that the market "has seen a big pullback in PP operating rates the past couple of months."
"This lever was pulled to decrease the PP days of supply inventory number, which was too high," the report said. It added that PP producers and distributors lowered prices to sell excess inventories heading into the end of the year and that these two moves "are close to successfully rebalancing the PP excess supply."
Blue Clover expected spot opportunities to buy PP at low prices through the end of the year, but the firm also anticipates PP supply "to be more snug when we start 2025 and for prices to rally."