By mid-April xxxx, the European Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) market reported to have stabilized price pattern after witnessing a price depreciation of approximately x.xxx during the initial week of the month. The early downturn was primarily driven by bearish sentiment in the feedstock Styrene market, as European Styrene contract prices fell by nearly EUR xx/ton for April, exerting pressure on downstream segments.
The decline in Styrene prompted downstream buyers to delay procurement activities, anticipating further reductions in feedstock costs. This temporarily dampened demand for TPE across the region. However, the trend reversed by the second week of April, when Styrene prices surged approximately xx.xx, driven by tightening supply. The price recovery in Styrene was likely the result of older Styrene imports from the U.S. and reports of BASF scaling back Styrene production at its Ludwigshafen facility鈥擡urope鈥檚 largest integrated petrochemical complex.听 This consequently resulted in the market sentiments...
