North American prices for PVC and polystyrene resins each have declined since Oct. 1, resulting from drops in seasonal demand and feedstock costs.
Suspension PVC prices dipped an average of 1 cent per pound in October after being flat in September. Prices for the material had dropped 2 cents per pound in August.
A PVC market source told Plastics News that purchasing trends have been unpredictable in recent months.
"Some days [PVC buyers] have good days, and some days sales are really slow. … I'm not sure what the future holds," the source said, adding that recent PVC inventory supply numbers have reached 17 days, a level that the source said "is higher than it's been in a long time."
U.S. housing starts declined in September, coming in at an annual rate of 1.43 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That number was down almost 3 percent vs. August, and down more than 5 percent vs. the same month in 2023.
Construction activity accounts for about 60 percent of North American PVC demand. Combined with previous increases and decreases, regional PVC prices now are up a net of 5 cents so far in 2024.
Polystyrene prices declined an average of 3 cents per pound in October after being flat for the previous two months and much of this year. The only month out of the past six that saw price movement was July, when prices fell 1 cent.
Prices for benzene — a feedstock used to make styrene monomer — dropped 48 cents in October to $3.13 per gallon, a decline of more than 13 percent. Benzene prices had slumped a total of 38 cents from July to September, but PS makers were able to limit price drops for their material to 1 cent in that period.
Markets for natural gas — used as a feedstock to make PVC and polyethylene — started October at $2.92 per million British thermal units but slid down 23 percent to $2.26 by Oct. 18. From that point, however, prices have jumped 26 percent to close at $2.85 on Oct. 30.