US-based global styrenics company Trinseo said Tuesday it expected third-quarter styrene margins in Western Europe to fall $125/mt from the second quarter.
Styrene margins in Western Europe in the second quarter were supported by acute tightness in the market amid planned and unplanned turnarounds.
In July, styrene prices fell as outages finished, and despite benzene and ethylene remaining little changed to levels in June. Benzene and ethylene are the two major feedstocks for ethylbenzene, the precursor of styrene.
Trinseo president and CEO Chris Pappas said in the company’s second-quarter results statement that its Basic Plastics & Feedstocks division had a record period in terms of adjusted EBITDA excluding inventory revaluation “due mainly to higher than expected styrene margins”.
In Asia, styrene margins were also expected to decline in the third quarter, by $25/mt from the second quarter.
Trinseo calculates its margins as “styrene less 80% benzene less 30% ethylene”.
