Demand continues to find support even if the pandemic is causing much disruptions to many market segments.
PP prices rolled over in Europe in October, with values on most accounts remaining unchanged, according to GC Intelligence assessments.
Polypropylene (PP) prices rolled over because costs have remained relatively unchanged amid a balanced market.
Prices
European PP prices have not changed since August, posting rollovers every month.
PP prices had been on a downward trend even before the pandemic. But when the virus hit the European market, PP prices found new lows.
After a short-lived recovery from May to July, prices have been unchanged since.
And now there is little to suggest that November will be much different from October. Therefore there is a good chance that prices will roll over again in December.
Demand
Meanwhile, demand has suffered and continues to suffer in many market segments that have been heavily hit by the pandemic. One of these is the catering and the automotive industry.
But the latter has improved from the very low point reached last spring.
However, despite some of the losses, other markets
have gained directly as a result of the pandemic.
For example, the packaging sector has been performing well during lockdowns as more people are staying at home, ordering food and other items online.
Moreover, there has been good demand for products used directly to combat the virus, such as dispensers for example.
Scenarios
In the next few weeks, the European PP market will become more volatile because of the rise in infections and more lockdowns expected.
However, as prices are already very low, it is unlikely that there is room for further decreases. A plausible scenario is rollovers in the short term and increases during Q1.
