Declining Demand Reduces the Polycarbonate Prices in EU and US Markets

The price of General-purpose Polycarbonate witnessed a bearish trend in US and Europe markets during the past week due to the weak demand from the downstream construction industry. General-purpose Polycarbonate is primarily used in the construction industry for glazing panels, windows, doors, etc.

In Germany, the Polycarbonate demand has decreased due to the low consumption of the product in the downstream construction industry. High interest and tight financial conditions are all attributed to dampening the demand from the construction industries. The market has a sufficient supply of Polycarbonate material to meet the requirements of the downstream industries. The market participants say Germany’s business climate index fell in June 2023 compared to May 2023. The German economy is heading into turbulent waters due to manufacturing sector weakness, and the organizations were fairly less happy with their ongoing business. Despite some slight upward revisions, overall pessimism persisted in the country.

In the US, the price of Polycarbonate followed the same pattern during June due to the sufficient availability of the product in the market. In the construction industry, demand for the product did not increase as the market consumed existing inventories in the United States. Further, the number of new job orders in the construction industry remained unchanged in the US market. Over the past seven days, the construction industry has not moved much, and the demand for Polycarbonate in this industry was reduced in the US. The industry has a favorable long-term outlook, but it faces several short-term difficulties, such as the possibility of a recession; due to recent high inflation rates, the shortage of essential equipment and materials and their rising cost, a rise in the cost of procurement, and ongoing labor shortage in the construction industry.

ChemAnalyst reports that the cost of Polycarbonate was settled at USD 3380/MT on a DDP US Gulf basis during the week ending 23rd June 2023.

It is expected that the demand for Polycarbonate is likely to be weak in the construction sector due to the poor performance in their activities. The construction sector is moving very slowly in Europe and the US due to rising interest rates pushing the other construction material prices to be expensive in the market. With several short-and long-term challenges, growth will remain subdued in the coming years. It is anticipated that Polycarbonate prices are likely to decline from 1.5% to 2% in the German market in June 2023.