Cost Story vs. Margin Story: Reading the May Settlements | Resin Market Moves

May settlement week just drew the clearest line in months between markets where cost drives pricing and markets where producers are simply testing what buyers will accept.PP's PGP contract settled down 7 cents per pound. The resin market is expected to follow. That's a legitimate cost decline — buyers who document it and push back in writing capture it. PE settled flat for May, but a 10-cent-per-pound June increase initiative is already circulating — even as ethylene spot declines, crude falls more than $5 a barrel, and global supply continues building. That's not a cost story. That's a margin play.Michael Workman, Executive Director at ResinSmart, breaks down the full commodity board — PP, PE, ABS, PC, PA6, PA66, PVC, PS, and PET — and gives buyers a clear action framework for the week ahead.In this episode: why PP buyers should be pushing back in writing this week and not waiting for June. The feedstock reality behind the PE June increase initiative and why it doesn't hold up. What the absence of June nominations in PA6 and PA66 is telling you. PET — the one market where cost support is real and why you should treat it differently. And how crude's five-dollar drop this week changes the benzene equation heading into summer.ResinSmart publishes Resin Market Moves weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.Contact Michael: [email protected] | (214) 984-2977 | resinsmart.aiPowered by RTi Global | Since 1998