MOSCOW: Negotiations on April prices of Russian polyvinyl chloride (PVC) began this week, with producers announcing price increases of Russian roubles (Rb) 500-2,000/tonne ($8.89-35.55/tonne) from March, according to ICIS-MRC’s Price report. Negotiations on April contract prices of Russian suspension PVC (SPVC) began on Tuesday, and some converters were slow to negotiate deals. Since early 2017, producers have taken a tough stance on resin prices and announced an increase of Rb500-2,000/tonne in April prices. Demand for resin has been gradually growing from converters, although not all converters intend to increase their PVC purchasing in April.
A major strengthening of the rouble against the dollar since the beginning of the year did not lead to higher imports. PVC shipments from China remained insignificant, although Chinese producers significantly reduced their prices of acetylene resin for April shipments and deliveries are likely to increase in the upcoming months. Some market participants reported stronger demand for pipe and sheet PVC, and they planned higher purchasing of resin in April. The key consumers of resin, window profile producers, have had no significant improvement in demand so far, although in some cases, a growth in sales was still registered. Since mid-March, weight restrictions on freight road transportation (restrictions on weight) have been introduced in some regions, these restrictions will be in effect in each region during the month and will be over in the country only on 15 May.
Therefore, some producers were forced to introduce restrictions on April shipments of resin, which also affected the final cost of material for converters. Deals for March shipments of Russian PVC were done in quite a wide range: Rb65,000-67,500/tonne, including VAT and delivery, for deals less than 500 tonnes. April deals were discussed in the range of Rb66,000-68,000/tonne, including VAT and delivery. A more substantial price increase was registered in the segment of resins with K = 70. Deals for April shipments were negotiated in the range of Rb68,000-71,000/tonne, including VAT and delivery.
