Europe: Polycarbonate (PC)
GC Intelligence (London) — The polycarbonate (PC) supply situation seen in at the end of 2018 has continued in 2019. Overall the market is still oversupplied, despite the usual but slight improvement in demand at the start of the year. The market had been tight in the first half of 2018. A combination of good demand, not only in Europe but also for exports, mainly to China, coupled by a major producer’s logistic issues, resulted in a considerable shortage. However, by Q4 all these factors had reversed, leading to a persistent increase in supply. It is understood that sellers are lowering offers to place extra product in low margin segments, such as extrusion and optical media. What is more, as activity remains poor in China, Asian producers continue to increase efforts to ship additional volumes to Europe. With the Chinese New Year in February, the current situation will likely persist. However, as the Chinese holiday ends, activity should pick-up. As China is a major importer of polycarbonate from Europe, the increase in demand for exports will likely help to balance the market. At the same time, buyers, particularly the ones that have been keeping stocks low, at some point will start to increase demand at the same time as seasonal activity increases. Therefore, at the end of Q1, the PC market could start to return to balance. What is more, measures to support the economy…
This in an excerpt taken from our monthly Polycarbonate (PC) market report. Take a three-month trial”