Market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM that Dow Chemical and Chevron Phillips Chemical had notified their customers that they planned to increase the prices of polyethylene (PE) resins sold in the US by 5 cents/pound. The increment will be valid on August 1 and on top of the previously announced 5 cents/pound hike effective on July 1.
Market participants have largely expected that producers would attempt to raise PE prices as they tried to recover from a period of low prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they were mostly uncertain if these increased prices can succeed. US spot LDPE export prices increased by $11/ton day-on-day to $959-$981/ton FAS Houston on July 15. Meanwhile, spot export prices for LLDPE and HDPE blowmolding were relatively flat at $760-$782/ton and $782-$804/ton FAS Houston, respectively.
