Asian hexene metallocene linear low density polyethylene premiums to butene-based LLDPE premiums have increased as functionality is winning out over price, sellers and buyers said on Tuesday.
C6 mLLDPE prices were last assessed Wednesday at $1,280/mt CFR FE Asia, while the average premium in 2017 to date was $178/mt to butene-based grades, according to S&P Global Platts data.
The 2017-to-date average represents an increase of $19/mt over the average premium from September 2015 when Platts first began assessing mLLDPE to December 2016.
LLDPE prices have been falling steadily from mid- February due to weak demand, according to Platts data.
PE made with the metallocene catalyst has better processing qualities such as superior tear resistance, down-gaging and hot-stamping (high-speed printing).
Less plastic resin material could also be used, resulting in transportation cost savings. Once the converters upgrade their equipment to process the metallocene resin it becomes hard for the converters to switch back to other grades, participants said.
Both buyers and sellers said this was a specialty grade, which meant volumes were not large.
Sellers said this is a product which is not based on production cost but on performance and profit margin, as to recover long lead times and large investments in research and development as well as much technical usage advice.
There will also be a doubling of metallocene based LLDPE capacity by 1.5 million-2 million mt/year in Asia over the next five years, sources said.
This fresh capacity will come from newcomers such as Prime Polymers and established producers such as Petronas and Reliance.
