LONDON–European propylene chain players are forecasting better profitability, an improved business environment and significantly stronger order books this year, according to analysis of Chemical Market confidence Index (CMCI) data on Friday.
Despite perceptions that conditions in December had deteriorated slightly compared to the state of market over the course of 2016, participants along the propylene chain were bullish on 2017 across all metrics, particularly order book volumes over the next 12 months, which stood at 48.8 according to CMCI data.
The Europe propylene contract for January settled up €45/tonne towards the end of 2017, alongside price hikes for all olefins and aromatics feedstocks for the month.
The price hikes hint that price increases could soon be passed along the propylene value chain, but a weak euro is limiting imports from other regions to Europe, bolstering local demand.
The newly established ICIS Europe CMCI aggregates sentiment from hundreds of petrochemical market players actively involved in price negotiations across more than 60 different markets.
The Europe CMCI runs from +100, to -100, with zero on each index representing neutral, or uncertain conditions, a negative score indicating bearish expectations and a positive score representing bullish expectations. The indices also gather sentiment on the comparison between the current situation and the situation across the past 12 months to give a complete picture of current market conditions and confidence. The information is gathered in the third week of each month. A full methodology is available on request.
For more details on the overall Europe CMCI data, click here
Sign Up for Email Updates
Everchem Updates Archive