Resin To Riches: Weekly Plastic Market Insights

Polymer Global Analysis

Resin To Riches: Weekly Plastic Market Insights

• General Thoughts: Repeated NMAs highlight how published benchmarks can diverge from transactional reality, reinforcing the value of C-MACC’s polymer market services in aligning pricing strategy, procurement, and margin control.  
• Polyethylene (PE): PE markets are rangebound at higher cost floors, but absent durable ethylene strength or structural closures, 2026 upside risk looks limited. Current dynamics suggest structural oversupply remains a governing constraint.
• Polypropylene (PP): Propylene volatility is squeezing non-integrated PP production margins, rewarding integrated producers and signaling 2026 dispersion, where feedstock flexibility and portfolio mix determine earnings resilience.
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): The regional divergence in global PVC markets highlights allocation discipline, policy support, and infrastructure demand in Asia, positioning 2026 as a utilization story rather than pure construction recovery.
• Other Sector Developments: Widening crude-to-gas spreads, cautious logistics normalization, and selective global restructuring activities are reshaping global chemical competitiveness ahead of a structurally bifurcated 2026.

Exhibit 1 – Chart of the Day: Recurring non-market adjustments (NMAs) reveal gaps between benchmarks and reality.       

Source: Bloomberg, C-MACC Estimates, February 2026