The majority of European melamine players have concluded their first-quarter contracts down by 22-24%, or reductions of €320-370/tonne ($416-481/tonne), sources confirmed on Wednesday. First-quarter contracts were settled at €1,050-1,200/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), while fourth-quarter contract levels had been pegged at €1,420-1,520/tonne FD NWE. Sources said the main reason behind the steep decreases was weak demand due to the global economic downturn, even more so than falling upstream costs. Over the last couple of weeks, players had already mentioned a wide variety of reductions, from less than €200/tonne to more than €400/tonne, while net-level, first-quarter values were also assessed widely by players between €900-1,250/tonne. The majority of both buyers and sellers, however, agreed that the first-quarter values of €1,050-1,200/tonne were most realistic. One consumer source said there were several reasons for the broad differential in values. The source said that players who had achieved big reductions this quarter had possibly settled at higher levels in the previous quarter. Another reason could be to do with the size of contractual volumes taken out. Overall, the global melamine market has remained weak.