# Bio-based polyethylene and MEG and Sugar

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

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/links/bio-based-polyethylene-and-meg-and-sugar/

[Bio-based polyethylene and MEG](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/bio_pe/) (chemical) and [Sugar](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/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.