Producers try to maintain prices / No real recovery in demand despite summer holiday end / Reductions expected in October

Despite well-filled stocks, producers across all grades tried to keep their prices at the previous level and to avoid having to make any further concessions. But they were not always successful. Nevertheless, the quarterly price agreements helped to keep quotations relatively stable. Producers continued to cut back their output of processable material mixtures, which led to fewer surpluses of base polymers. According to the PIE panel, however, the situation for finished materials has normalised.

There was sufficient material on the market to meet converters’ needs at all times. On the demand side, there were signs of a slight recovery as production resumed after the holiday period. Overall, though, the crisis in the automotive industry remains clearly noticeable. As with standard thermoplastics, the same applies to their engineering counterparts: a modest improvement in demand does not yet an autumn upswing make. 

And how are things to continue in October? A price reduction at the turn of the quarter seems highly likely, with only the extent of the discounts still up for debate. Customers are pushing for significant price cuts, in some cases running into the triple digits. Producers are of course trying for much smaller reductions – and some of them are even looking completely in the opposite direction and calling for increases. An agreement before the start of the K 2025 trade fair is very unlikely. Sustained revivals in demand are likely to remain short and scarce, and more and more converters are considering cutting their workforce.

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