PET market affected by PTA & MEG prices

The global polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market will continue to be affected by upstream market volatility because of economic uncertainty. As PET pricing is partly driven by the upstream purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) prices, margins are expected to remain thin.

Much depends on the developments in the key Asian market, how the euro-US dollar exchange rate will affect PET?s feedstock prices, as well as the competitiveness of the global import and export markets. .

In Asia-Pacific, an overcapacity of PET and PTA, as well as a change in PTA pricing structure to a paraxylene (PX) cost-linked basis, have led to restructuring within the PET market. As new plants are coming on line in Asia and Europe, supply is expected to remain ample..