US polyethylene contracts were rolled over from December to January, a producer confirmed Tuesday.
"There were just too many competitives to meet," the producer said as the reason for the rollover.
US PE makers had been pushing for a 6 cents/lb price increase for January after successfully implementing a 5 cents/lb hike in December.
Demand was not as strong as producers anticipated and producers did not have the export market available to help balance their domestic supplies.
Producers also cited the relatively high spot ethylene price as support for higher polyethylene prices.
Spot ethylene has gained more than 6 cents/lb during January, last assessed Monday at 62 cents/lb for an average of 59.29 cents/lb, according to Platts data.
Upstream ethane prices, however, have dropped more than 25 cents/gal over January and so far averaged 66.68 cents/gal for January, significantly reducing ethylene's cash costs, sources said.
