Import offers heard in the European general purpose polystyrene market in June have been uncompetitive, providing some leverage for European producers, according to market sources.
This week, GPPS spot prices were heard around Eur1,375/mt ($1,590/mt) on an FD Europe basis, while import offers were heard at $1,650/mt CFR Europe. Inland freight cost is added to the import offer, keeping import offers at a premium to offers by European producers.
"Supply is short as we are not seeing imports. We are only seeing offers from European producers," a distributor source said.
"It is impossible to work with imports at the moment," a second trader source said.
Iran, South Korea, India, Russia and Egypt have been the largest suppliers to the EU year to date in April, selling propotionately 21%, 19%, 18%, 12% and 5% to the EU, according to the latest Eurostat data.
High styrene prices in Asia have kept offers from Asian suppliers uncompetitive.
Meanwhile, E-styrenics in Egypt had stopped producting, sources said this week. E-styrenics did not respond to a request for comment.
This provided some leverage for European producers in terms of price negotiations. Nevertheless, a reduction in supply was met by lackluster demand.
Expectations of a price decrease in July meant that buyers were only purchasing minimal GPPS volumes, sources said.
