FAS demands to explain the increase in PVC prices
Following the verification of the increase in raw materials for the production of packaging, the FAS drew attention to the cost of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used, including in construction and medicine. In February and March, PVC quotes in the Russian Federation grew against the backdrop of Sibur’s capacities stop in Kstovo, but then moved to a decrease. Now the regulator can be afraid of a new surge in prices against the background of claims of the Prosecutor General’s Office to the owners of the PVC manufacturer Sayanskhimplast.
The FAS sent requests to the largest PVC producers in the Russian Federation to exclude unjustified price growth, the service said. They clarified that the letters were sent to “prevent violations of antitrust laws” JSC “Sayanskhimplast”, JSC “Bashkir Soda Company” (BSK) and Kaustik JSC. The FAS also recommended that companies develop trading policies for the sale of PVC and warn “about the need to comply with the principles of responsible pricing in PVC” distributors. The FAS noted that PVC is used in the construction, medicine and packaging of food and material prices can affect the cost of goods, including socially significant ones. Kommersant companies did not answer.
In conjunction, Sayanskhimplast and Kaustik account for more than 60% of PVC production in the Russian Federation. The remaining share is occupied by the structure of Sibur « Rusvilni ». According to the source of Kommersant, familiar with the situation, the weighted average price of three companies that received requests increased by 9% in February compared to January 2025.
In February, the FAS requested the largest manufacturers of raw materials for packaging-polyethyleneterftalate (PETF), BOPET BLOW and PET Graul-about the reasons for the change in prices and asked to provide their rationale (see Kommersant on February 7). Then this affected the structure of Tatneft Ecopet, Sibur-Sibur-Patf and Polyeph, which is part of the Europlast of the Senezh plant, as well as the Titan-Polimer plant,. Further measures regarding companies have not been reported since then.
NEFT Research Managing Partner Sergei Frolov notes that polymer prices in Russia are formed on the basis of export (if the polymer is produced and actively exported) or imported parity (if the product is deficit), taking into account the discount or premium of the domestic market. When using this pricing mechanism, in addition to quoting, the national currency has an important effect, he adds.
The expert associates the situation in the PVC market with the temporary reduction in the offer related to the attack of the UAV at the end of January to the SIBER-CISTOSKENT, the supplier of raw materials for RusVinil. According to Mr. Frolov, repair and launching work took almost a month and a half, which caused the growth of selling prices by three other manufacturers amid the need to increase the procurement of imported raw materials. “I do not think that here it is worth talking about some kind of cartel conspiracy. Rather, this is a normal market reaction in case of exceeding demand over demand, ”he says.
According to the head of the RUPEC, Dmitry Semyagin, since the end of March, a decrease in spotal prices after almost two -month stabilization has been observed in the Russian PVC market. Over the past week of March, prices decreased by 10-13% depending on the brand and manufacturer. He believes that the warning of the FAS may be related to information about the claims of the Prosecutor General to the owners of Sayanskhimplast. The agency sent a lawsuit to the Khamovnican Court of Moscow with a request to appeal to the RF income of the PVC manufacturer, which, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, belong to the ex-head of the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region Viktor Kruglov and his family (see Kommersant on April 7).
Mr. Semyagin admits that the FAS requests in this situation can be “ahead of the lead” in order to prevent price and information speculation. “In February, we saw that individual players can shift their inflationary costs to the consumer, justifying this with an incident in Kstovo. They can now potentially use the lawsuit around the plant in Sayansk for the same purpose, ”the analyst says. According to him, it is no coincidence that the FAS in his letter asks the manufacturers to bring its requirements to all the distributors. At the same time, the expert believes that objectively directly in the production of the consideration of the claim should not affect in any way.
