The Elastomer market has been robust in the last few quarters, however, 2022 witnesses a change in the market sentiment and prices have stabilized in the last couple of months, however recent conflict is again sending the prices on an upward trend. EPDM rubber market has epitomized the above market sentiment and consequently, EPDM rubber prices have observed another price increase in the European market.

Continuing Ukraine-Russia crisis has been unable to relent which is resulting in the rising prices of commodities across several nations in the European continent. The Petrochemical market has been among various markets which has been volatile since the beginning of the conflict. Crude oil prices have been significantly volatile resulting in uncertainty in the downstream derivatives. Olefins have been gaining continuously amid surging crude oil prices. Ethylene prices have been assessed in excess of USD 1500 per MT on FD basis.

Rising Ethylene prices have been increasing the cost pressure on the downstream EPDM rubber market in the European market. Meanwhile, the demand for EPDM rubber has slowed down due to the uncertainty around the ongoing conflict in Europe. Different countries are witnessing an increase in prices in different quantities.

French EPDM market observes a gaining of more than 2% and prices settled at USD 3425-3525 per MT on FOB basis. In the German market, EPDM rubber prices were assessed at USD 3565-3715 per MT on FOB basis in the 2^nd week of March 2022.

The Italian market has been following a similar trend and EPDM rubber prices have increased by 1% and were measured in the range of USD 2950-3150 per MT on an FOB basis. The Dutch market has also mirrored the European market sentiment and EPDM rubber prices has gained significantly and were assessed in the range of 3560-3660 per MT on an FOB basis.

As per ChemAnalyst, “the EPDM rubber market is expected to remain on the bullish run in the short term as cost pressure from upstream is unlikely to relent in the coming weeks. Therefore, prices are likely to remain on the uptrend despite stable to weak demand fundamentals in the European market.”