MEGlobal told customers Friday its North American benchmark price for monoethylene glycol would rise to 62 cents/lb in January, a 2 cents/lb increase over its December level, according to sources.
On Thursday, Indorama Ventures informed customers it would be raising its January MEG price by 2 cents/lb, from 66 cents/lb to 68 cents/lb, according to a letter obtained by Platts.
Sources had expected MEG prices to rise up in January for a number of reasons, including rising prices in Asia and planned US production turnarounds scheduled for the first half of 2013.
US contract nominations typically mirror the Asian Contract Price.
MEGlobal's January Asian Contract Price for MEG, announced earlier this week, was $1,240/mt CFR Asian main ports (56.25 cents/lb), a $40/mt (1.8 cents/lb) increase over its December marker.
The company said the January ACP reflected the short-term supply/demand situation in the Asian market.
US MEG contracts were assessed Friday at 51.50 cents/lb after the December benchmark price dropped by 4 cents/lb compared with November's mark.
