PP prices soared in Russia in the first week of August.

Petrotahlil - Stronger demand and capped supply led to an increase in polypropylene (PP) prices in Russia since the second half of July and early August, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Demand for PP subsided significantly in the Russian market in April-May under the pressure of quarantine restrictions, but began to recover in June with buying appetite from local converters.

Some converters’ capacity utilisation approached last year’s figures in July. Strong demand and an unscheduled shutdown at Stavrolen limited the supply of PP in the market and caused prices to rise.

In August tight supply of polymer from small-sized sellers increased the pressure on prices.

Market feedback indicated Stavrolen shut its PP production on 16 July due to technical issues.

Initially, the unplanned outage was expected to last 3-7 days, but maintenance works lasted for almost a month.

The 120,000 tonnes/year plant is scheduled to resume works in mid-August.

In July, Ufaorgsintez reduced PP production due to tight supply of feedstock, and plans to shutdown its 120,000 tonnes/year site in September for turnaround.

Tomskneftekhim’s 140,000 tonnes/year production capacity is expected to be taken off-stream for a scheduled two-week maintenance in September.

The pipe grade stat-copolymer of propylene (PP random copolymer) segment accounted for the acutest shortage. Some converters were unable to fully replenish their inventories both due to domestic producers and foreign suppliers.

In the propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) market, most small-sized sellers restricted sales, putting an additional pressure on prices.

In the first week of July, Russian homopolymer PP raffia was sold in the spot market in the range of Rb83,600-87,600/tonne carriage paid to (CPT) Moscow, including VAT, then by the end of July, PP prices had grown to Rb88,300-92,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

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Source : ICIS

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