ICIS Reports That Europe Styrene Bids See Record Daily Fall, Down 17%

LONDON, December 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Europe styrene bids saw their largest fall on record on Tuesday 16 December, dropping $180/tonne from the previous day, according to ICIS data.

The unprecedented falls were driven by plunging crude, benzene and naphtha values and weak demand.

Benzene daily spot values have halved since 28 October, while naphtha cargos have shed 30-31% of their value over the same time period.

Styrene values fell throughout the day on Tuesday, with the sharpest drop seen in the afternoon session, when bids and offers fell by $60-140/tonne from the midday range.

Weak demand approaching the year end, when players traditionally destock to lower working capital on balance sheets, coupled with buyer uncertainty over where the floor is for upstream prices has also placed downward pressure on styrene prices.

On Tuesday evening, December bids hit $890/tonne FOB (free on board) Rotterdam, with talk of a deal done at this level, although this could not be immediately confirmed.

This is the lowest bid level since 4 June 2009 when they were at $880/tonne FOB Rotterdam.

ICIS records for the daily styrene range date back to 21 November 2005.

About ICIS

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Mumbai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of Reed Elsevier Plc.

About Reed Business Information

At Reed Business Information we provide information and online data services to business professionals worldwide. Customers have access to our high-value industry data, analytics, information and tools. Our strong global brands hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading global provider of data, information and solutions for professional customers.

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Further information about ICIS can be found at http://www.icis.com

For further information about this release, please contact:

Kirsty Fleck
Senior Marketing Manager, ICIS
Email: kirsty.fleck@icis.com 
Direct: +44(0)208-652-8377
Mobile: +44(0)7799-658-419