Prices trend further down / Weak demand and increasing pressure from Asian imports / Greater price stability likely in November due to production cutbacks

Prices of nearly all engineering thermoplastics continued to fall in October. Weak demand, declining energy costs and competition from cheap Asian imports prevented producers from implementing the price rises they had intended to impose in October as a consequence of their production cutbacks. Only with PMMA and the glass fibre-reinforced PA 6.6 and POM types did the prices tend at least sideways.

With PMMA and POM GF, converters will nevertheless probably push for price cuts in November. On the other hand, prices for most other engineering thermoplastics are likely to remain more or less stable, because producers have, through their reduced output, created a largely balanced supply situation. Any gaps are being filled at present by imported Asian material.

With PMMA, there is a recognisable trend at present for converters to distance themselves from contracts with the producers and to opt increasingly for spot purchases from Asia. It is being feared that this practice will be extended in the coming year to other materials. This would certainly not contribute in any way to the reliability of supply – on the contrary, it would further increase the dependence on the supply of goods from Asia.

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