US polyethylene producers are pushing for September price increases and their arguments center around lost production, because of Ida and Nicholas, and rising costs because of the much firmer natural gas and ethane markets. Working against them are the very high margins and what appears to be a stubborn spot market, both covered in the charts below. A contract increase in September would maintain an unprecedented gap between US contract and spot pricing, and while it is likely that the spot market is very thin, it is a very strong push back against producers for a contract hike.
