ABS: Europe's supply "depression" is difficult to fill

The tight supply situation in the European acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) market is expected to continue at least until the second quarter of 2022, or even throughout the year, due to ongoing production problems, strong demand but sluggish imports

European market participants said that due to multiple factors, the supply of ABS in Europe has not yet recovered, and it is expected to be difficult to improve in the short term

The supply of ABS in Europe will be in a very tight situation throughout 2021

A European ABS buyer said: “The current situation means that supply constraints will continue for the next few months, especially for extrusion grade ABS

However, the news from Asia is not positive

Sources from the shipping industry show that imports from Asia are expected to remain subdued in the coming months, with supply pressures from Europe likely to persist

In the situation that the supply of ABS is still sluggish, the demand has been strongly promoted

However, due to a series of recent geopolitical events and other factors, the upstream products of chips are affected, which in turn affects the supply capacity of chips, resulting in the production capacity of household appliances and automobiles being affected

　　The automotive industry is another important downstream market for ABS