PE buyers keep to the sidelines as holidays near
In Southeast Asia, PE prices were largely unchanged over the past week as most sellers maintained a firm stance on their prices while buyers generally retreated to the sidelines while waiting for a clearer outlook to emerge after the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays. A converter in the packaging sector reported receiving HDPE film offers from two different Saudi Arabian suppliers in the range of $1050-1080/ton CIF equivalent. "We find the prevailing offers levels to be a bit high and have decided to delay our next purchase until after the holidays, when we hope to have a clearer picture of the market direction. We are seeing good demand for our end products these days," the buyer stated. A trader based in Vietnam reported purchasing some Saudi Arabian LLDPE film at $1060/ton CIF after negotiating a $10/ton discount from their supplier’s initial offer levels. "Demand is slowing ahead of the holidays and we are struggling to conclude deals in the local market as buyers claim to be able to locate more competitive prices. We expect the market to stabilize in late February after the holidays," the trader commented. Import prices were reported at $1080-1120/ton for LDPE film, $1040-1110/ton for LLDPE film, $1050-1120/ton for HDPE film and at $1080-1100/ton for HDPE blow moulding, all on a CIF SEA, cash equivalent basis. For metallocene grades, prices were reported at $1120-1150/ton CIF, cash equivalent basis for mLLDPE c6.