Equistar Chemical will increase its polyethylene price to 9 cents/lb for all its PE resins sold in the US, effective April 1, the company said March 18.
The rise will be in addition to any previously announced price increases, including the 7 cents/lb price increase implemented March 1, the company said in a letter to customers seen by S&P Global Platts.Prior to the most recent announcement, Equistar said March 5 it planned to increase the price to 6 cents/lb.
Equistar was unavailable for immediate comment on the March 18 letter.
"In this continued dynamic environment, PE supply remains significantly limited across the industry," the LyondellBasell subsidiary said in the letter.
Equistar's price increase follows one by Formosa Plastics USA, which announced a 9 cents/lb boost for all its Formolene PE products sold in the US.
Formosa Plastics' increase will also be in addition to any previously announced price increases, it said March 15, also in a letter to customers.
"Orders for all products will be subject to our ability to supply and is based upon normal operations of our facilities," Formosa Plastics said.
In recent weeks, producers have faced production issues due to the winter freeze that hit the Texas region on Feb. 15.
"Producers are busy trying to resolve them," one trader source said. "I expect exports to be very thin in April."
In general, the PE marketplace has been extremely tight due to production issues and limited supply available. Sources said they see no export offers and pricing talked in the market for March.
Platts assessed domestic PE contracts March 17 unchanged week on week. That was after the February contract settled 7 cents/lb higher on March 3 for all domestic PE contracts, based on limited supply and high demand in an already tight market, a source said.
In export markets, US spot PE pricing was assessed March 17 flat on the week ended after Platts assessed low-density PE at $1,830-$1,852/mt FAS Houston, linear low-density PE butene at $1,654-$1,676/mt FAS Houston and high density PE blowmolding at $1,642-$1,664/mt FAS Houston.
