Small reductions dominate the picture again / January could see prices bottoming out / Significant follow-up orders nevertheless still on the short side

December ended as expected – very calmly. With many converters, prices remained at their November level. Some of them nevertheless succeeded in negotiating special rates, thereby dragging the price structure down even further. Overall, it can be said that the prices of all types covered by this report declined slightly.

Production in Europe was reduced in some areas to such an extent that the shortage of base polymers seemed to be affecting compound production, although this did not lead to any real bottlenecks. Imports were able to fill the resultant gaps at all times. From the point of view of demand, there was little movement, and all orders were processed by mid-month. Follow-up orders were in short supply.

For this reason, many European compounding lines will probably be restarted in January much later than has been usual in the previous years. Topping-up effects – which are certainly to be expected in some cases at the beginning of the year – will probably only make themselves felt from mid-month because of the slump in the automotive sector. In terms of prices, the most common outcome is likely to be a rollover.

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