Plastics hedging rising amid US chemical industry boom

Several obstacles limiting potential growth, say plastics market participants

A market in plastics derivatives has been around for the best part of a decade, but many corporations, even those with significant exposure to plastic resins, remain unaware of its existence, say banks and commodity houses.

Despite almost 10 years of trading, demand for these hedging instruments is still relatively low and liquidity, although growing in some contracts, remains thin overall, say market participants. However, changing market dynamics in both the energy and petrochemicals