Toluene Diisocyanate Prices Decline in Europe Amid Surplus Supply

Since the beginning of the year, the Toluene Diisocyanate price trend has been soft, and prices are steadily decreasing in the European region. As per the data sources, Toluene Diisocyanate prices declined by almost 2.3% between January and February 2023.

The key reason for this decline is reduced orders for the Polyurethane (PU) foam from the domestic manufacturing and automotive sectors and a simultaneous decrease in PU sealant demand amid reduced construction sector activities. This caused the surplus availability of the product in the regional market. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority data sources, car registrations fell by 43% in the European region in February 2023.

During the final quarter of 2022, Toluene Diisocyanate supplies were imported from the Asian region as none of the production facilities were operating amid soar in Natural gas prices, which resulted in high input costs, and producers stopped manufacturing to prevent the hole in their pockets.

Now from the beginning of the year 2023, a significant contraction in Dutch TTF and United Kingdom’s NBP natural gas futures due to excess availability of Liquified Natural Gas because of mild weather than anticipated decreased the input costs. Recently during the mid of February, the feedstock Toluene prices have also fallen due to oversupply. Consequently, it reduced the cost pressure on the production costs of Toluene Diisocyanate, and at the end of the week, which concluded on 24th February 2023, the product price in Germany and the United Kingdom settled at USD 2130/MT and USD 4210/MT, respectively.

As per the Chemanalyst estimation, “European Toluene Diisocyanate prices will likely remain weak during March 2023. Various plants of BASF at the Ludwigshafen site in Germany are going for shutdowns, including Toluene Diisocyanate, indicating sufficient availability of product supplies. The stock availability will likely reduce in April 2023, and Toluene Diisocyanate prices will rebound.”