Moderate PS demand prevails in India, amid upward movement in price – 7 Feb 2014

General Purpose Polystyrene (GPPS) demand in Mumbai market is experiencing satisfactory demand, while the price of the polymer has been increasing steadily over the past few weeks. Indianpetrochem spoke to some traders in Mumbai to comprehend this price trend in detail.

Evaluating the price tend for General Purpose Polystyrene for the past two years, one can understand that the price for the polymer has nearly increased by 40-50% within the past two years. Our conversations with a trader revealed that the demand for virgin GPPS has declined steadily over the past two years as the polymers is being replaced by other substitutable polymers like Poly Propylene, etc. To add to this, buyers have started preferring reprocessed GPPS than virgin material, according to a GPPS manufacturer.

The price of the polymer has been increasing over the past few weeks due to the depreciating rupee, which results in higher cost for imported polymer. As such, the open market prices for the polymer have been bullish this week. Moreover, Indianpetrochem spoke to some traders and understood that the buyers have maintained moderate demand in the Mumbai market and off late, a need based procurement strategy has been observed.

The general market outlook is that the price will stabilise at current levels for three to four months, while the demand is expected to gain momentum backed on strong cyclical demand for consumer goods like refrigerators, etc, according to market sources.