Malaysian PP, PE offered with large increases to Indonesia

A major Malaysian producer has announced October shipment offers for PP and PE to Indonesia with relatively large increment from last month, citing tight availability. The plants have been operating at reduced rate over the past several weeks given the lack of feedstock.

Latest price list and changes are shown in the following table:

Since prices bottomed out in July, the producer’s offers for HDPE has jumped $190/ton or nearly 15%, while PP offers fluctuate anywhere between 10-14%. Initial respond from market is not very positive toward such rapid increment, claiming inability to transfer the costs to end product prices. “We are fully aware of the upstream situations, however, prices are just ways above the acceptance levels. We plan to negotiate to meet only immediate need,” an Indonesian buyer said.