The Urethane Blog

Everchem Updates

VOLUME XXI

September 14, 2023

Everchem’s Closers Only Club

Everchem’s exclusive Closers Only Club is reserved for only the highest caliber brass-baller salesmen in the chemical industry. Watch the hype video and be introduced to the top of the league: read more

April 27, 2021

Recticel Q1 Results

Recticel trading update 1st quarter 2021

Regulated information, Brussels, 27/04/2021 — 06:58 CET, 27.04.2021

  • Net sales: from EUR 221.5 million to EUR 256.7 million (+15.9%), including a -0.4% currency effect 
  • Net financial debt (including FoamPartner) : EUR 238.6 million, including IFRS 16 lease liabilities 

Olivier Chapelle (CEO): “The positive top-line trend observed during 2H2020 has continued to develop with a solid 15.9% y-o-y growth. Good volumes in our Insulation and Engineered Foams business lines, combined with substantial price increases, have offset the sales decline in the Bedding business line, caused by shopping restrictions in several markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The chemical raw materials supply remains constrained due to renewed ‘force majeure’ events and planned maintenance at the premises of our suppliers. This creates continued supply shortages of polyols and isocyanates, that our suppliers use to implement price increases at a historically high pace, leading to new all-time highs. In response to this, we mitigate these cost increases through corresponding selling price increases. The situation is not expected to normalize before 4Q2021.

During the quarter, we completed the FoamPartner acquisition in Engineered Foams, and the integration process has now started. We also signed preliminary agreements to acquire Gór-Stal’s insulation board business, and are currently performing the confirmatory due diligence while preparing its integration in the Insulation business line. At the same time we initiated the divestment process of our Bedding business line. These three strategic initiatives are currently all progressing according to plan.

OUTLOOK

Our underlying end-use markets remain difficult to predict in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of these uncertainties, our Group confirms its expectation to realise in 2021 a substantial increase in sales, and at least a 30% increase of its Adjusted EBITDA, not taking into account the contribution from the FoamPartner and the Gór-Stal acquisitions, nor the related synergies. The Group will provide guidance adapted to the new perimeter, including the acquired operations of FoamPartner and Gór-Stal, at the occasion of the publication of its first half-year 2021 results.

https://www.recticel.com/recticel-trading-update-1st-quarter-2021.html

April 27, 2021

Feedstock Pricing Outlook

Americas petrochemicals outlook, w/c April 26

US polypropylene

US polypropylene exports are expected to continue to trend downward in the short term amid improved availability, sources said.

The homopolymer assessment fell 13.5 cents/lb in the week ended April 24 amid talks of railcars available much lower for the period. S&P Global Platts assessed the homopolymer injection at $2,249-$2,271/mt April 23 on a FAS Houston basis. Ramp-ups by suppliers recovering from the February cold weather disruptions that hit the US Gulf Coast were expected to continue through the end of the month. Talks of normal production were expected to resume in June, sources said. Many buyers were still buying on allocations by producers. Despite the drop, participants deemed pricing too high to export to traditional import markets like Latin America amid competitive pricing from key global sellers. Still, there was talk that pricing would continue to dip on expected decreases in feedstock propylene contract price. Domestic market participants were eying a potential decrease as downstream contract settlements typically follow a monomer plus formula.

US olefins

US spot polymer-grade propylene is expected to continue rising in the week started April 25 on strong downstream polypropylene demand, sources said. April domestic PGP contracts are expected to settle in the week started April 25 between 10 and 16 cents lower.

US spot ethylene is expected to fall amid steam cracker restarts.

US vinyls

US spot export polyvinyl chloride prices were expected to remain at an all-time high of $1,800/mt FAS Houston in the week started April 25 as producers assess whether they will be able to offer volumes for May export. While all plants that shut amid sustained subfreezing temperatures in mid February have since restarted, turnarounds that were slightly delayed by the freeze shutdowns and more slated for May has kept output tight. Market participants do not expect output to resume normal levels until June. Upstream, caustic soda prices could inch up on growing demand in the pulp and paper industry as offices slowly reopen to workers, particularly in the US, with COVID-19 vaccinations becoming more available.

US aromatics

Benzene prices are expected to continue falling from the almost seven-year high of 503 cents/gal DDP USG reached April 20. While some sources said the decline in prices in the latter half of the week ended April 24 was simply a correction, the week of April 25 started with even lower spot ranges, including May benzene bid and offered at 410-485 cents/gal DDP HTC. May benzene had closed April 23 at 460 cents/gal DDP USG, up 35 cents on the week. Price movements through April 28 may prove influential in the settlement of the May CP, expected by the end of the week. May spot prices in recent weeks show the settlement should be sharply higher than the April CP of 301 cents/gal. Downstream, US styrene prices may see support from producers raising offers to account for higher feedstock prices as CP estimates clarify margins, as well as demand from Europe amid skyrocketing benzene costs in that region. May styrene closed April 23 at $1,520/mt FOB USG, up $50/mt on the week.

Stability is expected in the lower liquidity US aromatics markets of toluene and xylenes. While no spot trading was reported in the week of April 19-23, one market participant said the final days of April could usher in offers from producers who have otherwise been uncharacteristically quiet in the spot market since the mid-February Texas freeze derailed refining operations and supply chains. Sharp increases in benzene prices have improved economics for toluene disproportionation, allowing operators to increase STDP unit run rates, one trader said. Prompt nitration-grade toluene closed April 23 at 273 cents/gal FOB USG, up 3 cents week on week, while mixed xylenes gained 1 cent on the week at 249 cents/gal FOB USG.

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/042621-americas-petrochemicals-outlook-wc-april-26

April 27, 2021

Feedstock Pricing Outlook

Americas petrochemicals outlook, w/c April 26

US polypropylene

US polypropylene exports are expected to continue to trend downward in the short term amid improved availability, sources said.

The homopolymer assessment fell 13.5 cents/lb in the week ended April 24 amid talks of railcars available much lower for the period. S&P Global Platts assessed the homopolymer injection at $2,249-$2,271/mt April 23 on a FAS Houston basis. Ramp-ups by suppliers recovering from the February cold weather disruptions that hit the US Gulf Coast were expected to continue through the end of the month. Talks of normal production were expected to resume in June, sources said. Many buyers were still buying on allocations by producers. Despite the drop, participants deemed pricing too high to export to traditional import markets like Latin America amid competitive pricing from key global sellers. Still, there was talk that pricing would continue to dip on expected decreases in feedstock propylene contract price. Domestic market participants were eying a potential decrease as downstream contract settlements typically follow a monomer plus formula.

US olefins

US spot polymer-grade propylene is expected to continue rising in the week started April 25 on strong downstream polypropylene demand, sources said. April domestic PGP contracts are expected to settle in the week started April 25 between 10 and 16 cents lower.

US spot ethylene is expected to fall amid steam cracker restarts.

US vinyls

US spot export polyvinyl chloride prices were expected to remain at an all-time high of $1,800/mt FAS Houston in the week started April 25 as producers assess whether they will be able to offer volumes for May export. While all plants that shut amid sustained subfreezing temperatures in mid February have since restarted, turnarounds that were slightly delayed by the freeze shutdowns and more slated for May has kept output tight. Market participants do not expect output to resume normal levels until June. Upstream, caustic soda prices could inch up on growing demand in the pulp and paper industry as offices slowly reopen to workers, particularly in the US, with COVID-19 vaccinations becoming more available.

US aromatics

Benzene prices are expected to continue falling from the almost seven-year high of 503 cents/gal DDP USG reached April 20. While some sources said the decline in prices in the latter half of the week ended April 24 was simply a correction, the week of April 25 started with even lower spot ranges, including May benzene bid and offered at 410-485 cents/gal DDP HTC. May benzene had closed April 23 at 460 cents/gal DDP USG, up 35 cents on the week. Price movements through April 28 may prove influential in the settlement of the May CP, expected by the end of the week. May spot prices in recent weeks show the settlement should be sharply higher than the April CP of 301 cents/gal. Downstream, US styrene prices may see support from producers raising offers to account for higher feedstock prices as CP estimates clarify margins, as well as demand from Europe amid skyrocketing benzene costs in that region. May styrene closed April 23 at $1,520/mt FOB USG, up $50/mt on the week.

Stability is expected in the lower liquidity US aromatics markets of toluene and xylenes. While no spot trading was reported in the week of April 19-23, one market participant said the final days of April could usher in offers from producers who have otherwise been uncharacteristically quiet in the spot market since the mid-February Texas freeze derailed refining operations and supply chains. Sharp increases in benzene prices have improved economics for toluene disproportionation, allowing operators to increase STDP unit run rates, one trader said. Prompt nitration-grade toluene closed April 23 at 273 cents/gal FOB USG, up 3 cents week on week, while mixed xylenes gained 1 cent on the week at 249 cents/gal FOB USG.

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/042621-americas-petrochemicals-outlook-wc-april-26

April 25, 2021

Housing Gone Crazy

Home Prices Soar 18% To An All Time High; A Record 58% Of Houses Sell Within Two Weeks Of Listing

by Tyler DurdenSunday, Apr 25, 2021 – 05:25 PM

As if the official government data on soaring home prices wasn’t crazy enough, the latest monthly data from RedFin shows that in April, homes sold at their fastest pace on record with nearly half off-market within one week.

“There has been an ongoing debate at Redfin about whether fear of coronavirus infection was keeping homeowners from selling. With a third of American adults now fully vaccinated and still hardly any homes being listed for sale, we’re close to settling that debate,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

(A quick note on the base effect in the housing market: at this time last year, pandemic stay-at-home orders halted homebuying and selling, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable for select housing metrics. As such, this report has been broken into two sections: metrics that are OK to compare to the same period in 2020, and metrics for which it makes more sense to compare to the same period in 2019.)

Metrics to compare to 2020:

  • The median home-sale price increased 18% year over year to $344,625, an all-time high. Asking prices reached an all-time high of $356,175.
  • Homes that sold during the period were on the market for a median of 21 days, the shortest time on market since 2012. This was 16 days fewer than the same period in 2020.
  • 45% of homes sold for more than their list price, an all-time high. This was 18 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier.
  • The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased 2.3 percentage points year over year to an all-time high of 101.0%, meaning the average home sold for 1% more than its asking price.
  • 58% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market. This was a new all-time high (Redfin’s data for this measure goes back to 2012).
  • 46% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, an all-time high.
  • Meanwhile, with supply at record lows, demand remains near record highs thanks to fiscal stimulus, an exodus from rental units and near-record low mortgage rates.

Metrics to compare to 2019:

  • Pending home sales were up 23% from the same period in 2019.
  • New listings of homes for sale were down 10% from the same period in 2019.
  • Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 47% from the same period in 2019 to a new all-time low.

Fairweather’s conclusion: “Homeowners are staying put because if they move and buy another home they will face a very competitive housing market as buyers, and they don’t need to sell to take advantage of record low mortgage rates. They can just refinance their current home. On top of that, builders are struggling to construct new homes given an ongoing lumber shortage. Without more homeowners listing, buyers are scrambling to compete for the limited number of homes on the market, which continues to drive prices up to new heights.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/home-prices-soar-18-344625-all-time-high-record-58-houses-sell-within-two-weeks-listing

April 25, 2021

Housing Gone Crazy

Home Prices Soar 18% To An All Time High; A Record 58% Of Houses Sell Within Two Weeks Of Listing

by Tyler DurdenSunday, Apr 25, 2021 – 05:25 PM

As if the official government data on soaring home prices wasn’t crazy enough, the latest monthly data from RedFin shows that in April, homes sold at their fastest pace on record with nearly half off-market within one week.

“There has been an ongoing debate at Redfin about whether fear of coronavirus infection was keeping homeowners from selling. With a third of American adults now fully vaccinated and still hardly any homes being listed for sale, we’re close to settling that debate,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

(A quick note on the base effect in the housing market: at this time last year, pandemic stay-at-home orders halted homebuying and selling, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable for select housing metrics. As such, this report has been broken into two sections: metrics that are OK to compare to the same period in 2020, and metrics for which it makes more sense to compare to the same period in 2019.)

Metrics to compare to 2020:

  • The median home-sale price increased 18% year over year to $344,625, an all-time high. Asking prices reached an all-time high of $356,175.
  • Homes that sold during the period were on the market for a median of 21 days, the shortest time on market since 2012. This was 16 days fewer than the same period in 2020.
  • 45% of homes sold for more than their list price, an all-time high. This was 18 percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier.
  • The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased 2.3 percentage points year over year to an all-time high of 101.0%, meaning the average home sold for 1% more than its asking price.
  • 58% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market. This was a new all-time high (Redfin’s data for this measure goes back to 2012).
  • 46% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, an all-time high.
  • Meanwhile, with supply at record lows, demand remains near record highs thanks to fiscal stimulus, an exodus from rental units and near-record low mortgage rates.

Metrics to compare to 2019:

  • Pending home sales were up 23% from the same period in 2019.
  • New listings of homes for sale were down 10% from the same period in 2019.
  • Active listings (the number of homes listed for sale at any point during the period) fell 47% from the same period in 2019 to a new all-time low.

Fairweather’s conclusion: “Homeowners are staying put because if they move and buy another home they will face a very competitive housing market as buyers, and they don’t need to sell to take advantage of record low mortgage rates. They can just refinance their current home. On top of that, builders are struggling to construct new homes given an ongoing lumber shortage. Without more homeowners listing, buyers are scrambling to compete for the limited number of homes on the market, which continues to drive prices up to new heights.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/home-prices-soar-18-344625-all-time-high-record-58-houses-sell-within-two-weeks-listing