Polyethylene trading was surprisingly good, completed volumes were high, particularly for film grade resins. All decently priced HDPE for injection easily found a home, although we clearly found limits that customers were willing to pay. In general, resellers continue to focus on back-to-back transactions, trying to limit the level of uncommitted Polyethylene on hand. Producers continue to pursue their August $.03/lb price increase, though fundam... [More]

Polypropylene trading improved, driven by better demand for both Homopolymer and Copolymer. While offgrade resins generally remain accessible, spot supplies of readily available prime have been a little tighter. PP reactors ran at near full capacity in July, producing nearly 1.55 billion lbs of resin, the most in about 10 years. Total PP demand was solid, more than 50 million lbs above the 12 month average, but there was still an inventory build ... [More]