Though the flow of both spot offers the resins requests slowed from rampant pace seen throughout January, a series of relatively large transactions generated an overall high volume of completed resin deals through our trading desk. There were several good swaths of fresh rail cars offered early in the week, but material sold availability dwindled, which is typical into month end. Spot Polyethylene prices were mixed, with occasions of up, down and flat depending on grade. Despite a $.04/lb PE price increase nominated for Jan, contracts remained unsettled market wide even as the month end approached. Spot Polypropylene prices edged up a penny after a strong purge of material seemed to clear, leaving unfilled PP demand chasing week ago prices. Although PGP contracts were flat in Jan, those PP contracts that were not tied directly to monomer lost couple cents or so. The PE an PP export markets were very active and strong demand has been soaking up surplus materials.
The major energy markets continued to erode amid heightened volatility and fear of falling Chinese demand stemming from the Coronavirus. WTI Crude Oil prices tumbled further, the March futures contract gave back another $2.63/bbl to end the week at $51.56/bbl. Brent Oil rolled to April and underperformed WTI, losing a large $3.27/bbl to $56.65/bbl, bringing the spread back under $5/bbl. Nat Gas prices often rise to meet stronger winter demand, but instead continued their counter-seasonal slide and made new contract lows. While March futures held the$1.80/mmBtu level. The subsequent bounce was benign, and the market went into the weekend at $1.841/mmBtu, down $0.29/mmBtu. NGLs new minimal movement; Ethane was nearly unchanged at $.14/gal ($.06/lb) and Propane gained $.0075/gal to $.40/gal ($.115/LB.
Spot Polypropylene trading was very active last week. The spot Polyethylene market took a breather after an intense pace set during the 1st part of the month. Completed volumes were well below levels seen the rest of Jan, but still ran right around weekly 2019 average. Some prime LDPE film grades finally emerged, but they came and went quickly; still, the slightly looser supply eased a cent off it’s wide premium. LLDPE levels were either steady or narrowly mixed, while all HDPE resins held flat. For now it seems the 4-cent nomination will roll through February and the additional nickel would be targeted in March.
Shannon Industrial is a unique business with over 50yrs experience in the plastic industry. Shannon’s Beliefs have always been loyalty, growing relationships, and providing the best possible service based on those relationships. With Shannon’s 65,000 square foot warehouse, and 38 car rail siting we have over 3 million pounds of material on hand. Material’s ranging from Commodity resins to the most obscure exotics. Shannon can accommodate orders and execute delivery on a moment’s notice.
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