Will European PS sellers achieve modest hikes in January?
Even before monomer contracts had settled for January, expectations had centered on rollovers due to supply constraints for PS. So far, new offers have been revealed with rollovers to €10-20/ton hike requests across the region. Sellers are blaming the ongoing supply tightness in Europe as the main reason behind their firm attitude. Buyers, however, believe that lower styrene and butadiene contracts may cast a shadow on those targets and rollovers may be obtainable in the latter part of January.
January benzene contracts settled down €19/ton from December at the end of last month, before styrene contracts also suggested a drop of €20/ton month over month. ICE Brent crude futures were down by around $3/bbl since January started, with prices hitting as low as $32/bbl by the middle of this week before regaining some lost ground during intra-day sessions on Thursday.