Saudi polymer market in doldrums amidst omicron scare

Due to low market demand and weak trading activities the prices of Polymers slipped in the domestic and global market. In Polymer market, the LDPE prices down by 3% whereas LLPDE and HDPE prices slipped by 2%. Polypropylene prices down by 3.2% in the domestic market of Saudi Arabia. LDPE Film grade prices were observed to be $5983/ton, for LLDPE Blown Film grade and HDPE Blow Moulding grade the prices were $ 4594/ton and $4630/ton. Polypropylene prices were observed to be $5662/ton for Raffia Grade.

SABIC revised the prices downward as the spread of Omicron variant had created havoc across world market. Major polymer factory operations were slowed down amid high inventories and port restrictions in countries of Asian and European regions which hits the demand of Polymer and its supplies. In the past few weeks, Saudi Arabia had witnessed the limited local demand of Polymer and decline in exports. The supply chain disruptions had worsened in the last few weeks. Weak demand and high freight cost had also contributed to the overall supply chain issue. Shipping and container cost had surged on account of port congestions across the globe.

According to ChemAnalyst, it is estimated that the price of Polymer will decline initially in first half of Q1 2022 and will bounce back in the second half of Q1 2022. Upstream Ethylene and Propylene prices will also affect in the near weeks but with recovering demand and surging in its consumption in its Downstream market will increase the prices of Polymer in global market. It is expected that the polymer demand in the Saudi Arabia’s domestic market will recover amid improvement in its trading market across Asian and European market. Major Polymer players in Saudi Arabia will likely to operate their plant cautiously according to their end user industries and consumer demand.