SABIC's main product prices fell in Q4 2018: CEO

Prices of Saudi Basic Industries Corp.’s (SABIC) main products such as glycol chemicals, methanol and polycarbonate have decreased significantly, in the range of 8 percent to 30 percent, Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday, citing Yousef Al-Benyan, the company’s vice chairman and CEO. 

The price drop was noticed in Q4 2018 and also in the beginning of 2019, he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2019 in Davos. 

“The decline in prices stopped last week, and we hope that continues for the rest of the year. The fluctuation in energy prices has affected the prices of petrochemicals,” he said while commenting on the decline in SABIC’s product prices in 2019.   

“Asia accounts for 28 percent of our exports, out of which China covers 60-70 percent. Meanwhile, Europe currently represents 23 percent of our exports,” he added.

“We are keen to provide the European market with innovative solutions and a variety of products for premium prices, which offsets the impact of the market slowdown. As for China, prices were affected. The impact is on everyone, not only on SABIC,” Al-Benyan noted.