Polymers
Overview
Global polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) supply and demand dynamics are in transition. Supply is increasing much faster than demand and international trade is shifting due to political and economic events. About 40% of the US polyethylene production is exported, mainly to Asian markets, whereas only about 10% of the polypropylene production is exported, mainly to LATAM markets.
Ethylene prices in Asia and Europe are tied to naphtha whereas ethylene prices in the US are impacted by natural gas and ethane supply. Asia is also self-sufficient on PP whereas they must import 25% of their PE demand.
The impacts of other ethylene and propylene derivatives such as PVC or propylene oxide also require assessment.
Our polymer experts will help you determine what trends to track and how to stay competitive in today’s ever-changing global markets.
Latest polymers news
Browse the latest market moving news on the global polymers industry.
Vitol gets permit guidance for Rotterdam PPO project
Vitol gets permit guidance for Rotterdam PPO project
London, 15 April (Argus) — DCMR Milieudienst Rijnmond, the joint environment service for the Province of South Holland, has granted the first "declaration of permitability" to Vitol Plastic Recycling (VPR) for its Rotterdam pyrolysis project. The declaration clarifies what is likely to be required for a project to succeed from an environmental and permitting perspective. This guidance helps to substantiate further development steps such as finance/investment decisions and subsidy applications. "At an early stage, plans are often not yet sufficiently detailed for a complete permit application. Nevertheless, at that point, there is usually already enough information available to make guiding statements—with the aid of a declaration of permitability—that help the company make choices", DCMR Milieudienst Rijnmond managing director Daan Molenaar said. "It is important to have clarity regarding the feasibility of innovative projects at an early stage. This permitability statement helps us make more targeted choices and further develop our plans", VPR chief executive Jeffrey van Geloof said. By Will Collins Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
EU virgin-recycled premiums extend record gains
EU virgin-recycled premiums extend record gains
London, 13 April (Argus) — The competitiveness of recycled polymers compared with their virgin equivalents in Europe have extended records in April, as exports of plastic and petrochemical feedstocks from the Middle East remain highly disrupted. Demand for recycled polymers increased, particularly for less-demanding and cost-saving applications. But many recyclers are concerned about the longer-term implications of the entirely supply-driven price rally on their demand and margins. Based on spot prices, the current cost comparison between virgin and recycled polyolefins and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most skewed in favour of recyclates as a cheaper option since Argus began assessments. Data start in 2022 for polyolefins and in early 2024 for PET, when Argus launched its delivered northwest Europe PET resin spot assessment. In polyolefins, buyers of low- and linear low-density polyethylene (LDPE and LLDPE) on the spot market to make black or dark-coloured films could save more than 50pc by using recycled pellets, notwithstanding additional processing costs. Manufacturers of corrugated HDPE pipes could save 40-50pc by switching to recycled material. For PET, rPET flakes are now €300/t less expensive than virgin PET, having only become cheaper — for the first time in two years — in early March. Higher virgin polymer prices result from growing tightness and rising production costs, particularly because of disruption to exports of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), crude oil and naphtha through the strait of Hormuz. Recyclate prices have risen to a much lesser extent than the virgin equivalents, as the direct effects of the war on recycled supply chains has been much less. Higher demand for recyclates is particularly prevalent in non-packaging applications with fewer technical barriers to material substitution. It can also be seen in more complex applications where converters may not have maximised their allowance for recycled content in 2025 and early 2026 because of cheap virgin polymer prices. The increase in demand is leading recyclers to target margin improvement, following a long period in which cheap virgin polymers squeezed profitability in the industry. Margins for rPET, rHDPE pipe and rLDPE/LLDPE have increased since the start of the war. Margins for rPP have not yet gained by much, owing to rising feedstock costs, but more upward pressure on rPP pellet prices is likely in the coming weeks. Downstream demand at risk Recyclers may be benefitting from geopolitical turmoil in the short term, but many are concerned about the longer-term effects. Unlike in the Covid-19 pandemic, when virgin polymer prices rose in part because of higher consumer spending power, price inflation arising from the war is likely to negatively effect demand. The latest S&P Global eurozone construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey showed the most pronounced fall in new orders since October, with firms pointing to surging energy prices as a key factor. Consumer confidence in the EU27 countries hit a 2.5-year low in March, Eurostat data show. Converters are concerned about their ability to pass through the recent cost increases within supply chains. Many downstream customers may not yet have seen the full extent of the increases, which are passed down the chain with a delay. Some converters said they are at a juncture, where some production lines would need to be stopped if downstream buyers are unwilling to pay higher prices. Recyclers are already facing higher energy costs, with tighter global natural gas supply because of Emirati and Qatari LNG outages. European gas and electricity price increases have been capped since the start of the conflict by higher year-on-year supply from elsewhere, relatively warm recent temperatures and market expectation of a return to 'normal' supply in the coming months. In a scenario where a ceasefire is agreed and supply starts to normalise within the next four to six weeks, Argus Consulting projections suggest Europe can avoid a significant storage deficit into the winter. But the risk of major tightness increases the longer the war continues, and the risk of low EU natural gas storage levels heading into next winter is a concern for the recycling industry, with gas-fired generation setting the marginal power price in most of Europe. By Will Collins Virgin PET premiums to rPET, spot del NWE €/t Virgin PE PP premiums to rPE PP, spot del NWE €/t Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Q&A: Neste on circular feedstocks, mass balance
Q&A: Neste on circular feedstocks, mass balance
London, 2 April (Argus) — Finnish refiner Neste recently commissioned a 150,000t/yr upgrading facility for liquefied plastic waste, including plastic-derived pyrolysis oil, in Porvoo, Finland, to supply recycled plastic-based feedstocks to the petrochemicals market. Neste's director of polymers and chemicals Maiju Helin spoke to Argus about expectations for the market, their views on EU mass balance rules, and hopes for bio-based content targets for plastic packaging. What are your current experiences and future expectations for the demand for plastic pyrolysis oil and circular feedstocks in Europe? The market is gradually on a growth trajectory, but developing slower than we expected. We see there will be demand when the regulation kicks in, but now we are between the adoption of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and recycled content targets coming into force so it's really not affecting the market as heavily as we would have wanted to see. Other aspects such as high energy costs, the competitive pressure towards the European petrochemical industry coming from outside of Europe, delays that we see in chemical recycling plans and geopolitical uncertainties have slowed the development of the market. Nevertheless, we now have the world's largest upgrading capacity and are ready to grow with the market and ramp up as supply/demand develops. The upgrader has an input capacity of 150,000 t/yr, significantly more pyrolysis oil capacity than is available in the European market — how quickly do you anticipate being able to fill this? I can't comment on our current state of operation. But you are absolutely right that today we will not be able to run this unit at full capacity. We hope to as soon as possible, but we need to see how quickly the market develops and how the supply pool develops. And then, we are there to do this together with our suppliers and customers at scale. What is Neste's position on the mass balance accounting rules being adopted in the EU for allocating recycled content from chemical recycling in the Single-Use Plastic Directive (SUPD), and ahead of discussions about the rules to be adopted for the PPWR? Our new facility processes liquefied waste plastic, and then the upgraded pyrolysis oil is co-processed with intermediates coming from crude oil refining [in the Porvoo refinery]. The rules that were laid down for the SUPD make it rather difficult for the refineries to create value from their contribution towards the recycled content targets. We want to ensure that the refineries will enable the scale-up of chemical recycling within Europe. Refineries have a role to play for several reasons. It is about a lower investment overall, because refineries have existing infrastructure that can be used at a lower cost than greenfield. We know from the Draghi report [a 2024 report by Italy's Mario Draghi on Europe's competitiveness and the EU's future] that Europe doesn't have that much investment money on the table. The Porvoo refinery is able to remove impurities and optimise chemical compositions. This allows liquefiers to use more difficult-to-recycle waste streams and eases the raw material competition with mechanical recycling. We hope Europe readjusts the mass balance recycled content calculation rules for the PPWR, so that we can really unleash the potential of this upgrading unit that we have finalised. What could those amendments look like? One idea is to add detail about specific refinery processes, to allow more recycled "credits" to be assigned to petrochemical feedstock if only certain units of the refinery are used to co-process pyrolysis oil, rather than requiring credits to be allocated proportionally across all the refinery output… We are analysing how we could do a credible, credit-based mass balance within the refinery and make it technically and economically feasible at the same time. What you mentioned is potentially one of the ways this could work. But without knowing the exact details, it is difficult to say if it would work for us. We are supporting the fuel use exempt model. We are not advocating for free attribution. But we just need to find ways, for the calculation rules to address the specifics of refineries in a way that they can be eligible within the framework. Neste also owns the European technology licensing rights for pyrolysis company Alterra Energy. How do you perceive the current investment environment for new chemical recycling installations in Europe? We continue to see interest in investing in liquefaction in Europe and we work together with our partners Technip Energies and Alterra to commercialise Alterra's technology. Some investments are being idled or delayed. I guess because players want to wait for clear EU-wide rules on mass balance and end-of-waste criteria. Pyrolysis is one of the most promising technologies to handle the multi-layer packaging waste, mixed plastic waste and other difficult-to-recycle plastic waste streams. Legislative uncertainty is not the only hurdle, but probably the biggest one... also the geopolitical situation and costs in general have an impact. Would Neste invest itself in pyrolysis capacity in Europe? Our role today is in the upgrading part of the value chain. The aim of the licensing is to create supply and accelerate the scaling up of chemical recycling. If the mass balance rules remain unfavourable towards an upgrading process such as the one you have, involving co-processing in a refinery, for PPWR, are there other uses for this upgrader? And what is the future for the asset? Our priority is on upgrading liquefied waste plastic even if we have recognised the restricted raw material availability at the moment. The investment was made solely for liquefied waste plastic and we created a segregated liquefied waste plastic input for the upgrading facility. All in all, it's too early to talk about something like that, because we primarily want to see the liquefied waste plastic succeeding in the polymers and chemicals market. We are not looking at the fuel pool as an alternative market for liquefied waste plastic-based products. Neste is also a major biofuels producer. Would you support bio-based polymers being allowed to count towards existing recycled content targets in PPWR, or would you prefer them to have separate targets? We're in favour of including bio-based plastics within PPWR, and how we would want to see it happen is with separate targets for bio-based material and recycled material. We are a firm believer in the need to move away from the use of fossil raw materials and need to enable all possible raw materials and technologies to be eligible and to thrive. Recycled and renewable raw materials for the petrochemical industry work well together and can make the greatest impact in moving away from the use of fossil. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Vinmar in 15-year offtake deal for Citroniq PP
Vinmar in 15-year offtake deal for Citroniq PP
Houston, 19 March (Argus) — Global polymer trader Vinmar has agreed to buy corn-based polypropylene (PP) from Citroniq's planned Nebraska plant under a binding 15-year offtake agreement. The deal represents half of Citroniq's 600,000 t/yr PP capacity at the plant, which is expected to begin production in 2029, the Houston, Texas-based companies said last week. The project will use a corn-to-ethanol-to-propylene-to-polypropylene process. Growing corn removes carbon from the air, and Citroniq's process sequesters that carbon in PP pellets, making the polymer "carbon negative", according to the company. Vinmar's Premier Product Marketing unit has agreed to distribute the Citroniq resin, to be sold as OrganiqPP, through its global petrochemical logistics network. The long-term commitment reflects rising demand for low-carbon, drop-in polymers that are compatible with existing processing equipment, Citroniq said. The company expects adoption across packaging, consumer goods, automotive and industrial markets. By Dona Davis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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