Northwest Europe PET realignment for gross prices (UPDATE)

Platts will be rebasing its current Northwest European polyethylene terephthalate (PET) gross contract price assessments for FD NWE and FD UK, following an internal review of the price assessment process.

The downward re-alignment of gross contract prices is required to reflect comprehensively reported and verified transactional data gathered from the European market in the assessment process. This re-alignment is not indicative of the fall in PET prices in Europe, but rather the outcome of this internal review.

Data collected and corroborated by the market suggests that PET contract prices have been progressively rising due to feedstock pressure.

Platts intends to rebase the gross contract price using a formula of net contract price plus premium. Following feedback from market participants, the gross price for Northwest Europe should be around 8% premium over the prevailing net prices. Platts is still investigating the premium for the UK market.

Platts proposes to complete this re-alignment on April 6, 2011.

For feedback and queries please contact Ilana Djelal, ilana_djelal@platts.com, with a copy to petchems@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com.