Russia's "cut-off" of European natural gas further boosted the price of natural gas in Europe. The prices of natural gas and electricity both rose by more than 20%, both reaching record highs. In this context, the production and supply of PVC and PE in Europe are limited!
It is understood that the PVC production capacity in Europe has reached more than 8.7 million tons, accounting for more than 14.6% of the total PVC production capacity in the world. The annual output of PVC in Europe is close to 5 million tons. Europe is a net export region, with an annual export volume of more than 1.2 million tons and an import volume of about 500000 tons.
Since 2021, affected by the epidemic, European PVC production plants have been affected by force majeure such as raw materials, transportation and energy. The output in the region has been greatly reduced, and the export volume of the United States to them has been affected by the reduction of American exports. The supply of PVC in Europe has remained tight. Its futures index reached the highest point of USD 2050 / T in the second half of the year. At present, it is affected by force majeure, KEM one Saint fons and Berre plants, French chlor alkali and PVC manufacturers, continued to shut down.
The tight supply of natural gas and the rise of energy and power costs in Europe will continue to hinder the restart plan of PVC production enterprises. Under the high cost, there may be further load reduction of other enterprises' devices, and the tight supply of PVC in Europe will not be reduced. As Christmas approaches, the demand in the European market slows down, alleviating the supply pressure to some extent. However, in the long run, the tight supply in Europe will continue until the first quarter of 2022.
In addition to PVC, according to German media reports, on December 17, Dow said it had officially sent a letter to customers, saying that two of the company's three cracking units in terneuzen had failed. Therefore, Dow declares that all grades of polyethylene products produced in Europe are force majeure. The company said that it was unable to confirm the duration of the force majeure at present, so it was necessary to evaluate the maintenance status of the upstream device failure.
Dow's products are in deep crisis. In addition, the European energy crisis is getting worse and worse, and the cost of natural gas and electricity price is rising rapidly, which gives other chemical giants the opportunity to raise prices!
Ethylene rose sharply in North America and PE such as West Lake Chemical rose
On December 17, Westlake said in a letter to customers that it would increase the selling price of all grades of PE resin by US $0.04/lb (about 563 yuan / ton) from January 1, 2022. The company also said it would delay delivery by at least two weeks.
Before West Lake chemical, Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell in North America have announced price increase plans for 2022. It is reported that the increase of these resin manufacturers is US $0.04-0.07/lb (about 563-984 yuan / ton).
In addition, it is reported that the spot price of raw ethylene in North America rose sharply by 18% late last Friday. The December us spot ethylene trading price for TX delivery on Friday night was US $0.3725/lb (about 5234 yuan / ton), up 18% from the spot trading price confirmed the previous day to us $0.305/lb.
Two major mainstream PVC manufacturers raise product prices
On December 22, Shuishui Chemical Co., Ltd. issued a price increase notice. Due to the tight supply of raw materials and the increase of transportation costs, the price of chlorinated polyvinyl chloride resin (CPVC) and its composite products will be increased globally from January 1, 2022, of which the export products will increase by US $0.3/kg (about 1911 yuan / ton).
A week ago, ponding chemical sent a letter saying that it would increase the selling prices of PVC pipes, reinforced plastic composite pipes and related products by up to 30% from January 1, 2022.
The increases of different products are as follows:
The company announced that it would increase the selling price of PVC general packaging material (food packaging) polyma wrap film by more than 25% from January 21, 2022.
The company announced that it would raise the selling price of PVC composites from January 21, 2022, with a maximum increase of more than 65 yen / kg. The specific increase is as follows:
Rigid PVC composites increased by more than 35 yen / kg (about 1953 yuan / ton);
Soft / linear PVC Composites (phthalate plasticizer) increased by more than 39 yen / kg (about 2176 yuan / ton);
Soft / linear PVC Composites (polyester plasticizer) increased by more than 43 yen / kg (about 2399 yuan / ton);
Soft / linear PVC Composites (trimellitic acid plasticizers) increased by more than 45 yen / kg (about 2511 yuan / ton);
Flame retardant soft / linear PVC Composites (phthalate plasticizer) increased by more than 59 yen / kg (about 3292 yuan / ton);
Flame retardant soft / linear PVC Composites (polyester plasticizer) increased by more than 63 yen / kg (about 3515 yuan / ton);
Flame retardant soft / linear PVC Composites (trimellitic acid plasticizers) increased by more than 69 yen / kg (about 3850 yuan / ton);
The specific increase of some special products shall be quoted separately according to the specific model.
The company announced that it would raise the selling price of PVC pipes and related products from January 21, 2022, including more than 30% for PVC pipes and more than 15% for other related interface products.
The company announced that it would raise the selling price of PVC plates and related products from January 21, 2022, with an increase of 15% - 20% for all products.
Shinyue polymerization Co., Ltd. mentioned the substantial increase in raw material costs in the above four price increase notices. According to shinyue, in 2021, the mainstream PVC manufacturers (including shinyue Chemical Co., Ltd., the parent company of shinyue polymerization Co., Ltd.) have undergone three large-scale adjustments in Japan, and other auxiliary materials such as plasticizers have also increased to varying degrees. In addition, labor costs, machinery maintenance costs and sea freight will not rise. Therefore, the company had to raise the selling price of PVC products.
