ICIS Pricing Launches Asia Ethylene and Polyethylene Margin Reports - Ethylene Producer Margins Recover but for how Long?

SINGAPORE, August 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Key players in the region have welcomed the launch of new weekly Asia Ethylene and Polyethylene Margin reports from ICIS pricing, the leading price reporting service for the global chemical industry. With markets remaining highly volatile, the reports offer an authoritative and independent measure of producer cash costs and cash margins, essential for confident planning and negotiation by sellers, buyers and traders.

The Asian Ethylene Margin report shows that, since the beginning of June, as a result of higher ethylene and co-product values, cracker margins had recovered from their most negative territory to their highest for the year to date. In the last couple of weeks margins have dropped back as naphtha prices have once again risen, such is the volatility of the market. The launch of these two Asian market reports follows the introduction of similar reports in Europe last year. "The margin report is a good addition and together with the pricing report it is a great reference for negotiations and calculations," says a German manufacturer. The two new reports look set to enjoy a similar response in Asia.

The weekly margin reports are designed to complement ICIS's highly regarded pricing data. They assess producer cash costs and cash margins by modelling raw material and key variable manufacturing costs, co-product credits and product yields across the business, from feedstock naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) through to polyethylene.

Combining ICIS pricing's benchmark price assessments with feedstock yield models from Linde Engineering, the reports provide a clear indication of the direction of business cash costs and cash margins, so forming a basis for informed market positioning by sellers, buyers and traders.

The reports include charts, tables and bullet point summaries, giving clear indications of both short-term and long-term trends for northeast and southeast Asia. The Asia Ethylene Margin report models LPG as well as the more dominant naphtha feedstock, since some units have a degree of flexibility to increase LPG usage when better economics are available for its use. The Polyethylene Margin report provides indicative cash margins based on naphtha feedstock for both integrated and non-integrated producers.

ICIS pricing already provides benchmark price assessments for major ethylene and polyethylene contracts. There's widespread recognition of the importance of the accurate, independent and unbiased intelligence supplied by ICIS pricing reports. All the most competitive companies use ICIS market intelligence to make better-informed business decisions.

Request sample copies of the Asia Ethylene and Polyethylene margin reports from ICIS pricing at http://tinyurl.com/mwoure or by emailing sales.ap@icis.com

For more information on ICIS pricing, visit http://www.icis.com

Notes to Editors:

ICIS pricing

ICIS pricing (http://www.icis.com), an independent pricing and market intelligence service from ICIS (http://www.icis.com), provides petrochemical and oil markets with reports published daily, weekly or monthly on more than 120 commodities. The pricing information is gathered by teams of experienced reporters in London, Houston, Singapore and Shanghai to offer the most complete, authoritative and up-to-the minute independent market information available. For further information on ICIS pricing and ICIS news, please visit http://www.icis.com

Reed Business Information

ICIS (http://www.icis.com) is part of Reed Business Information (RBI), a division of Reed Business and a member of Reed Elsevier plc, the world's leading publisher and information provider. RBI publishes more than 100 market leading publications, directories and online services, and organises many industry conferences and awards. The RBI portfolio includes Computer Weekly, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Commercial Motor, Community Care, Estates Gazette, Farmers Weekly, Flight International, New Scientist, Travel Weekly, Totaljobs.com, Caterer.com, CWJobs, Estates Gazette Interactive (EGi), ATI (Air Transport Intelligence), ICIS, Kellysearch, Kompass UK, and Bankers' Almanac. For a full listing visit http://www.reedbusiness.co.uk

    For further information please contact:
    Sheila Seow
    ICIS pricing
    Tel: +65-6789-8828
    Email: sheila.seow@icis.com

SOURCE ICIS Pricing