Demand akin to “dance of death” / Only E&E shows positive signs / Market players already want to put miserable year to bed

“Almost a dance of death” was how a PIE price panellist described the demand situation in August. Even sizeable price cuts were unable to persuade converters to take out their wallets. As a result, more material found its way into producers’ warehouses despite the cutbacks in production. Fulfilling contracts, however, was not a problem. 

Europe was in holiday mode, and many automotive, construction, and E&E businesses were shut for the holidays. But while the automotive segment continued to make only negative headlines, at least a few positive signals came from the E&E sector. PA and PA 6.6 in particular took a battering. 

In September, some producers are expected to try – more or less in desperation – to push their sales up by cutting prices. Their stocks are full and there is a need to make some space. Many of them are hoping that a few converters will opt for some stock-building activities. However, nobody expects the automotive sector to recover in the near future. In only one aspect are the companies – both producers and converters – in agreement, namely that 2024 has been a bad year and should be put to bed. And then there are the imports that could reach the market from October onwards and put further pressure on prices… 

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