Resin prices end 2024 either lower or flat

Commodity resin markets in North America ended 2024 with two price drops and three materials with flat pricing for December.

North American prices for polypropylene resin were down an average of 2.5 cents per pound for the month. That marked the fourth consecutive monthly price drop for the material, following a 3.5-cent decline in November and a combined drop of 10 cents in September/October. In December, as in the previous three months, the PP price decline followed a similar directional move for polymer-grade propylene feedstock.

Combined with previous increases and decreases, regional PP prices finished 2024 with a net price drop of 9 cents per pound. In a late November market report, PP supplier Blue Clover of New York said that the market "has seen a big pullback in PP operating rates the past couple of months."

"This lever was pulled to decrease the PP days of supply inventory number, which was too high," the report said. It added that PP producers and distributors lowered pricing to sell excess inventories heading into the end of the year and that these two moves "are close to successfully rebalancing" excess PP supply.

PET slips

In the PET market, North American bottle resin prices fell an average of 1 cent per pound in December, marking the fifth consecutive month with lower prices. Prices also had dipped 1 cent in November. The total five-month price drop was 11 cents.

The December price drop followed lower prices for raw materials, including paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid. Combined with previous increases and decreases, PET prices were down a net of 10 cents in 2024.

In a recent report, the Beverage Marketing Corp. consulting firm outlined how PET and other plastics have maintained a strong market share in the beverage market.

"Plastic containers offer product visibility and can be molded into recognition-enhancing custom shapes, which can include handholds for easy gripping and pouring and cup-holder friendly footprints to suit today's mobile consumers," the report said.

It added that, as a result, plastic is "a popular choice" for single-serving containers intended for on-the-go consumption, as well as multiserving sizes formerly packaged in heavier or nonreclosable formats.

A nonmarket PE correction

Regional polyethylene prices were flat for the second consecutive month in December, after declining an average of 3 cents in October. PE buyers had been looking for price drops starting in late summer, but resin makers were able to keep prices flat. Based on previous price moves, PE prices increased an average of 10 cents per pound during 2024.

Also this week, Plastics News is showing nonmarket price adjustments on all grades of PE. Prices for all grades of high and linear low density PE are revised downward by 25 cents per pound on the resin pricing chart. Prices for all grades of low density PE are revised downward by 20 cents. Nonmarket adjustments reflect changes in prices paid by resin buyers outside of those caused by supply, demand or feedstocks.

Exports of PE resin from the U.S. and Canada reached an all-time high of 46.6 percent of total production in 2024. That's almost 2 percent higher than the previous high reported in 2023. Total regional PE production also reached an all-time high of 63.3 billion pounds in 2024. There's some concern among PE market watchers that tariffs on imports proposed by the Donald Trump administration could affect U.S. PE exports by leading other countries to place retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, including PE resin.

Looking forward in 2025, market analyst Mike Burns said North American PE resin production is expected to exceed regional demand by nearly 50 percent. "Robust and constant exports will need to continue to maintain a [North American] supply and demand balance," he added in a recent report.

Key contributing PE market factors in 2025, according to Burns, will be the timing of China's additional 10 billion pounds of new production and economic conditions in that country. The 2025 PE market also will be affected by solid global demand and firm oil prices that will allow North American suppliers to continue to export.

An additional 5 billion pounds of PE production added in North America in 2023-24 will be readily available in 2025, Burns said. Also in 2025, according to Burns, lower energy costs pressuring global prices downward and excessive global production are expected to price North American resin closer to the export price.

PVC, PS flat

Regional PVC prices were flat in December after declining an average of 1 cent per pound in November. The November move was the second consecutive monthly price drop for that material. Combined with previous increases and decreases, PVC prices were down a net of 4 cents during 2024.

A drop in seasonal demand was cited as a reason for the November price drop, as construction activity across most of the U.S. slowed with colder weather. U.S. housing starts declined slightly in December, coming in at an annual rate of just over 1.48 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That number was down almost 1 percent vs. November, and down more than 3 percent vs. the same month in 2023. Construction activity accounts for about 60 percent of North American PVC demand.

PS prices in the region were flat for the second consecutive month in December, even though prices for benzene, used to make styrene monomer, saw a slight decline. That same pricing scenario took place in October. PS prices had been down an average of 3 cents in October after being flat for the previous two months and five times in the last six months.

Prices for benzene — a feedstock used to make styrene monomer — dropped 11 cents in December to $2.99 per gallon, but that dip of almost 4 percent wasn't enough to move PS prices.

In feedstocks, regional prices for crude oil moved up in December. West Texas Intermediate oil prices opened the month at $68 but increased more than 5 percent to $71.70 by the end of the month. They've increased even more from that point, up another 6 percent to $76 in late trading Jan. 21.

Markets for natural gas, used as a feedstock to make PE and PVC, started December at $3.34 per million British thermal units, but moved up almost 9 percent to $3.63 by the end of the month, mainly as a result of colder temperatures. From that point, prices have increased almost 5 percent more to close at $3.80 on Jan. 20.

Plastic containers offer product visibility and can be molded into recognition-enhancing custom shapes, which can include handholds for easy gripping and pouring and cup-holder friendly footprints to suit today's mobile consumers."

* Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/resin-prices-end-2024-drop-or-flat