March is the traditional peak season for the chemical industry. With the gradual recovery of downstream demand in previous years, the prices of chemical products will also increase. However, now that the end of March has passed, the overall performance of the chemical industry has not been satisfactory. As the downstream demand has not been improved, chemical fiber chemical industry, inorganic chemical industry, agricultural chemical industry and other sub-industry products are either difficult to get out of the stalemate of low prices, or are facing the pressure of price deflation. Chemical fiber chemical industry continued to experience cold in March. Taking PTA and caprolactam as examples, despite the fact that its upstream raw material paraxylene (PX) and pure benzene are still high, due to the high inventory levels in the downstream textile market, PTA prices have recently dropped sharply to 8,600 yuan/ Tons of caprolactam fell by nearly 1,000 yuan from a high of 23,000 yuan/ton due to the lack of transactions. At the recent Hangzhou Chemical Fiber Forum held in China, Zhao Xiangdong, vice president of the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, stated that the lack of terminal demand is the key reason for the current downturn in the industry. In fact, with the exception of high downstream stocks, in March, the inventory of some chemical fiber products has also increased, and there has been a trend of high raw materials and terminal inventory at the same time in the chemical fiber chemical segment. Taking ethylene glycol, a polyester raw material, as an example, its price dropped from 7,900 yuan/ton in early March to 7,250 yuan/ton. It has been reported that ethylene glycol inventories reached a high of 900,000 tons in March, and the arrival of domestic goods is still increasing. On the caprolactam market, customs statistics show that its imports in February were above 85,000 tons. The increase in spot prices was the reason for the high level of caprolactam's price loosening. Some people think that the price may continue to decline. In the inorganic chemical industry, the performance of titanium dioxide in the past six months can be described as profitable. Under the influence of factors such as the shortage of raw titanium concentrate and continued price hikes by external giants, the ex-factory price of domestic rutile titanium dioxide increased from RMB15,500/ton in November last year to RMB21,000/ton in the second and third quarter of February. More than 30%. Since late February, the prices of these varieties have been fluctuating around 21,000 yuan/ton, and have not been further demonstrated. The new titanium dioxide production capacity continues to be released, but the downstream coatings, plastics and other industries have failed to recover. Affected by the continuous tightening of real estate policies, although it is now close to the traditional peak season of the paint industry, because the market is generally concerned about whether actual demand can improve, the industry operating rate has not significantly rebounded. Affected by this, the actual transaction prices of existing manufacturers have been lower than in February, and the industry has entered a high consolidation area. Yi Xisi (ICIS) analyst Xie Ruili believes that the price of titanium dioxide is supported by high costs. If the downstream purchase demand continues to be unsatisfactory, even if the price of titanium dioxide does not drop, the industry operating rate and normal sales will also have problems. Affected by ploughing and stocking, the operating rate of the urea industry is the first to stabilize and pick up in many chemical sub-sectors. Since the end of January, the mainstream urea quota in East China has steadily increased from 2,050 yuan/ton to 2,170 yuan/ton or more. At present, although the vast majority of urea manufacturers' inventory is low and their willingness to pull up is high, prices in some regions have started to recover. In March, the agriculture in the Northeast and North China was affected by the frequent changes in the weather, the demand for fertilizers was flat, and the industrial demand was limited. In the absence of obvious positive support, the price of urea also rose weakly. Although crude oil prices are still rising since late March, a clear trend is that crude oil's boosting effect on the back end of the industry chain has been reduced. The direct downstream products of crude oil, such as pure benzene and toluene, are subject to high costs and adverse downstream transmission, and have been caught in a stalemate in price consolidation. On March 21st, the latest chemical environment index released by CSC was -14.08, down from -6.8 in the previous period. CSC believes that from the perspective of the historical boom index and the secondary market index of the chemical industry, the boom index is continuously below zero, and the possibility of a drop in the secondary market index of the chemical industry is more likely. Laser Cutting Machine,Tube Plate Laser Cutting Machine,Cnc Laser Cutting Machine ,Cutting Machine Dongguan ganzoo prototype manufacture co.,ltd , https://www.gz-proto.com
March China's chemical market is busy