Vinyl Chloride Monomer prices have been affected by the low demand from Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) manufacturing sectors and the European construction segment. Moreover, the weak raw material Chlorine costs and sluggish European Chlor Alkali utilization in the second week of September 2022 led to a southward price trend for Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM).

The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war impacted the European Chemical production units in the third quarter of 2022. Furthermore, cuts in Russian gas supplies caused a disturbance in the European chemical producers, who are highly dependent on natural gas. Therefore, higher energy prices muted the production activities and led to squeezed market activities in the region. Thus, during the second week of September, the European energy crisis and lower global product demand dampened the prices of Vinyl Chloride Monomer in the region. 

Meanwhile, the crippled availability of feedstock Chlorine in the European market diminished the feedstock cost support for Vinyl Chloride Monomer. As per the latest insights, The Inovyn scheduled a maintenance turnaround in Rosignano (Italy) and Rheinberg (Germany) from 26 August 2022 for Chlorine with a capacity of 150,000 mt/year and 220,000 mt/year, respectively.

In Europe, downstream PVC demand stabilized in the second week of September, leading to bearish buying sentiments for VCM in the European region. Moreover, the currency (Euro) depleted against the US dollar by nearly 1.63% and pulled prices downward amid a high inflation rate in the week ending 9 September.

As per ChemAnalyst anticipation, prices of Vinyl Chloride Monomer may further show a rise in September owing to the increment in the demand from the downstream industries such as PVC and construction in Europe. Moreover, an expected increase in the feedstock Chlorine prices as supply improvement from China is anticipated, backed by the ease of lockdown restrictions in China, impacting prices of Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM).