February US ethylene contract prices were settled 2.75 cents/lb lower on the month at 30 cents/lb ($661/mt), sources said Friday.

The settlement fell within market expectations, which recently called for a decrease of between 2-4 cent/lb, sources said.

Those expectations were driven by a decrease in demand — particularly from the polyethylene market — amid planned and unplanned outages, sources said.

Spot front-month ethylene assessments averaged 22.888 cents/lb in February, down 4.671 cents compared with January, according to S&P Global Platts data.

In feedstock action, front-month purity ethane assessments averaged 24.125 cents/gal in February, down 2.833 cents compared with January.

February spot propane pricing shed 5.233 cents to an average of 84.928 cents/gal.

Spot US ethylene was last assessed Thursday 0.375 cent lower day on day to 21.5-22 cents/lb FD USG for the February prompt month.