Bio-based polyethylene and MEG and Sugar

Sugar is a raw material for bio-based polyethylene and MEG; their prices have moved together.

Bio-based polyethylene and MEG (chemical) and Sugar (commodity): 2 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Feedstock

Physical flow · Direct · Sugar → Bio-based polyethylene and MEG

Bio-based polyethylene and MEG is made from sugar: it is one of the raw materials its production routes start from.

2. Price link: competing use

Cost and price · Weak · Both ways

Brazilian mills choose between making sugar and ethanol from cane, so a high sugar price raises the cost of ethanol for bio-PE. The proxy is a fossil resin index, so the link barely shows, with yearly moves correlating at 0.25.

• 0.06 monthly change correlation
• 0.25 12-month change correlation
• 0.20 fitted elasticity

Built from the site data on production routes, energy flows, industry value chains, input-output tables and prices.