The US orthoxylene contract fell 4 cents/lb ($88/mt) in December to 56 cents/lb ($1,235/mt) and that will drive down US phthalic anhydride contracts 4 cents/lb in January to 73 cents/lb delivered for molten PA, sources said Thursday.
US PA contracts are formula based and move at a one month lag to changes in the OX contract.
"We're down 9 cents/lb on OX over the last two months, that's not good for us," a PA maker said.
The bad part of the sudden decrease was the inventory losses stemming from having to decrease PA prices produced from the higher OX price, the source added.
PA producers may be able to keep January prices from falling 4 cents/lb as they have issued a 2 cents/lb manufacturer's price increase. Implementation of the 2 cents/lb hike falls outside what happens to OX.
