Polyvinyl Chloride Price | Current and Forecast
Monitor Polyvinyl Chloride Prices Worldwide
Intratec tracks the following commodity prices in multiple locations.
See below a preview of PVC prices, as an example of prices available. It presents monthly PVC prices in 7 locations: United States, South America, Europe, South Asia & Oceania, China, Middle East, Africa.
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Data Legend. The PVC price chart shows the prices in USA Dollar per metric ton (USD/mt) in 7 locations, as follows:
- US: Polyvinyl Chloride, United States, transaction, fob
- SAM: Polyvinyl Chloride, South America, transaction, cif, Brazil
- EUR: Polyvinyl Chloride, Europe, transaction, fob, Germany
- SEA: Polyvinyl Chloride, South Asia & Oceania, transaction, cif, India
- CN: Polyvinyl Chloride, pipe, China, spot, cfr
- MDE: Polyvinyl Chloride, Middle East, transaction, cif, Saudi Arabia
- AFR: Polyvinyl Chloride, Africa, transaction, fob, South Africa
Data Use. PVC prices are provided as an annual subscription where subscribers have access to reliable pricing data of 237 commodities worldwide. To better understand data provided by Intratec Primary Commodity Prices, check the following documents: Price Assessment Basis , Commodities Specifications , Methodology , User Guide , and Glossary .
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Price Dynamics. The PVC price in United States decreased during November 2018 to 850 USD per metric ton, which represents a slight decline of 3% compared to the previous month’s value. On a year-over-year basis, PVC prices in United States decreased by 5%. Meanwhile, in Germany, the average price of PVC amounted to 1,120 USD per metric ton, from 1,100 USD per metric ton one year earlier. On a month-over-month basis, the PVC price in Germany is 0.9% lower than the price one month before.
The price of PVC in China declined slightly throughout November 2018, reaching 926 USD per metric ton. The price in China is 2% lower than the average price in the previous month and 3% higher than the average price one year before. In contrast, PVC prices in India decreased modestly during November 2018, reaching 957 USD per metric ton, which means a decline of 0.1% from the previous month’s price and a decline of 3% from the previous year’s price.
The PVC prices in Saudi Arabia experienced a modest decline of 1 USD per metric ton from the prior month's price, to 941 USD per metric ton. Such price movement in Saudi Arabia meant a decrease of 0.1% on a monthly basis and a rise of 0.9% on a yearly basis. On the other hand, in November 2018, the PVC price in Brazil witnessed a rise of 15 USD per metric ton when compared against the previous month's price, to 931 USD per metric ton. The November 2018 price in Brazil is 4% lower than the price one year before.
In South Africa, the average price of PVC was 1,030 USD per metric ton on November 2018 – which means it was flat compared with the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, the PVC price in South Africa is 1% higher than the price one year before.
About Polyvinyl Chloride. Polyvinyl Chloride (a.k.a. PVC) is the third most commonly produced synthetic polymer, after Polyethylene and Polypropylene. It is a white, brittle solid and it comes in two basic forms: rigid PVC (RPVC) and flexible PVC. As one of the largest thermoplastic commodity produced, Polyvinyl Chloride is in fact a global product, used in a broad range of applications due to its remarkable versatility.
This thermoplastic commodity is prepared from the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and can be manufactured through different polymerization processes. However, most of the commercial PVC production is based on suspension polymerization processes. To a lesser extent, PVC is produced on an industrial scale via emulsion polymerization and bulk (mass) polymerization. Polyvinyl Chloride polymers can be produced with different morphologies/molecular masses, according to the intended end use. In general, PVC is produced as a particulate with two main sizes: grains (particles) with a diameter ranging from 100 - 180 μm when it is produced via suspension and mass polymerizations, and latex of particle size 0.1 - 3.0 μm when produced via emulsion polymerization.
As one of the biggest thermoplastic commodity manufactured, Polyvinyl Chloride PVC stands out due to its distinctive characteristics stemming from the presence of a bulky chlorine atom, which imparts a highly polar nature to the polymer chain. Additionally, the essentially syndiotactic conformation of the repeat unit within the chain restricts the extent of crystallinity. As a result, PVC exhibits commendable mechanical properties and impressive stiffness even in structures with low wall thickness. PVC also demonstrates a high melt viscosity at lower molecular mass and retains its advantageous mechanical properties even when subjected to significant plasticization. Conversely, PVC is considered unstable due to molecular defeats in some of its polymer chains and self-accelerating dehydrochlorination reaction when it is heated. Therefore, PVC is always combined with various additives, such as heat stabilizers, internal and external lubricants, processing aid, UV stabilizer, impact modifier, and others. In this way, PVC can be handled and applied to several end uses. Typical applications of PVC include construction fields, domestic uses, packaging, vehicles, medical equipment, and clothing.
Most PVC production is handled in bulk and as a liquid under pressure. To reach this liquid form, the PVC powder is pressurized and fluidized in blow-eggs vessels, which possess a 2-15 t capacity and are responsible for conveying the PVC liquid via pipeline to silos for storage. These silos have a typical capacity of 100-500 t. When it comes to discharge, PVC is directly released from the silos or passed through smaller loading hoppers before being loaded into 20 t road tankers, which are the preferred transportation mode for PVC. In some cases, woven polypropylene big bags are employed to transport 1-ton batches of PVC, while 20-ton ISO metal containers are utilized for long-distance deliveries. Moreover, although PVC is not a complex material to handle, it should be stored in a cool-ventilated area and must be kept away from heat and ignition sources.
PVC production consists in the polymerization of vinyl chloride, in such a way that different PVC manufacturing routes are related to different sources of this monomer. In this context, the most typical PVC production routes are based on vinyl chloride produced by the reaction of ethylene with chlorine. Raw materials and the respective production processes employed in the manufacturing of Polyvinyl Chloride are listed below.
- Vinyl chloride (suspension polymerization),
- Vinyl chloride (bulk polymerization),
- Vinyl chloride (emulsion polymerization)
The uses and applications of Polyvinyl Chloride may vary according to its specification. The main forms of Polyvinyl Chloride are rigid (plastic with high resistance to impact extensively used in building applications); and flexible (prepared by the addition of plasticizers, which lower the crystallinity of polymer chains, yielding a more flexible plastic material used in flooring and medical products).
