DowDuPont sees ‘short and shallow compression’ in PE cycle in 2019

DowDuPont expects a relatively mild and quick downturn in the polyethylene (PE) cycle in early 2019 amid stable inventories and high operating rates, a senior executive said on Thursday. “There are some predictions out there that everything is going to collapse. I’m not sure I believe that,” said Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow Chemical (Materials Science division of DowDuPont), on the company’s Q3 earnings call. “We’ve seen that inventories are relatively under control. They’re actually down at the end of the third quarter slightly. Inventories are at 42 days, and that’s basically what you need to run the supply chain,” he added.