Europe PET, PTA markets wary of outlook, some buyers still prepared to pre-buy

Pre-buying activity has propped up polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) demand in Europe, as buyers are attracted to current prices, but the markets remain cautious given the pessimistic outlook for the economy.

US acetone remains lengthy on low demand, downstream outages

The acetone market has been lengthy during 2019 amid low demand in automotive, an important end sector for key derivatives methyl methacrylate (MMA) and polycarbonate (PC). Further limiting acetone consumption had been several outages in downstream MMA. An MMA plant in Beaumont, Texas, had recently restarted after a months-long outage, while a turnaround at an MMA plant in Memphis, Tennessee, continues.

Asia epoxy resin discussions weak on China market losses

Discussions for epoxy resins in Asia were mostly range-bound this week, defying for now the downtrend seen in China’s domestic market. Any further losses in China, however, could eventually weigh on export prices of northeast Asia-origin materials.

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