European slabstock conventional flexible polyol contract prices are continuing an upward trend into April, driven by rising cost pressure and the need to achieve reinvestment economics, market players said on Wednesday.
European slabstock conventional flexible polyol prices have increased by €100-150/tonne ($132-198/tonne) since the start of the year, according to ICIS.
For standard flexible polyols, average increases are between €40-50/tonne in April, which has taken prices to €1,850-1,980/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).
Flexible polyols have hit a new high at €1,980/tonne, according to ICIS records, which began in October 2002. This level is seen to reflect historic highs in upstream propylene feedstock costs.
There have been larger price hikes for flexible polyols, of €70-100/tonne, according to some players, but they are not widely confirmed. In addition, there are lower increases of €30/tonne, but they are the exception rather than the norm.
A few players put the price range around €1,900/tonne FD and up to €2,000/tonne FD, but there is insufficient market confirmation to substantiate this.
One manufacturer said it had secured flexible polyol business in the mid €2,000s/tonne FD NWE as a minimum, although it conceded that this was for a mix of standard anf flexible polyol grades.
By contrast, numbers slightly below the range were also reported in a few cases, but this was not seen to reflect the general market level.
Views on European flexible demand are mixed, depending on source. Suppliers maintain that consumption is good, with one manufacturer stating that it continues to see additional enquiries for both standard and speciality grades into April.
Buyers, however, describe consumption as reasonable-to-slower, with the latter attributed to economic uncertainty and the approaching low season.
The European market is balanced to tight, although there is some variation depending on grade and source. Sellers maintain that supply is not readily available because of recent upstream production problems and good demand.#
Buyers, however, consider the standard flexible market as well-supplied because of some slowing demand in the downstream bedding and furniture sectors, although some acknowledge that supply for speciality grades are more limited because of recent production issues as well as strong demand in the downstream automotive sector