The much higher polypropylene margins in the US come despite very high propylene pricing, and the whole chain did well in the first half of the year. Demand for polypropylene has been significantly stronger than most expected year to date, although production outages have helped the market, and what we had expected to be a surplus in the US in 2021, precipitated by the Braskem start-up has turned out to be production coming online just in time and prices might have been higher still had the Braskem plant not been there. We see some of the demand as cyclical - in response to consumer durables, though there has been lower use in the auto industry because of the production cutbacks. See more in today's daily report.
Source: Alpek, July 2021
