In Asia, ethylene prices continued to track a downward trend during the past week. Players blamed persistently slow demand as the main reason behind further decreases in spot ethylene prices. In addition, increasing supplies amidst restarts at several regional crackers were also cited as another reason for the ongoing softening trend. Players reported that spot ethylene prices decreased by $45/ton from a week earlier to reach $1055/ton on a CFR Northeast Asia basis while they were down by $20/ton to $1045/ton on CFR Southeast Asia basis at the end of last week. FOB South Korea based offers also witnessed a drop of $45/ton in the same period to be quoted at $1030/ton.
In Europe, spot ethylene prices were unchanged on a week over week basis to be quoted at €895-900/ton at the end of last week. Players stated that market activities were quite stagnant while supplies were sufficient.
In the US, players reported that ethylene prices posted a weekly decrease of $22/ton (1 cent/lb) at the end of last week to be pegged at $524-535/ton (23.75-24.25 cents/lb) on FD USG basis. Lower prices for spot ethylene were mostly attributed to two plant restarts while May ethylene contracts were settled with a decrease of 0.5 cents/lb ($11/ton) from April at 30 cents/lb ($661/ton).