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In March, the domestic phthalic anhydride market hit a high and fell, and the market began to stabilize near the end of the month. Two kinds of process route profit differentiation, low cost naphthalene anhydride was the first to recover, and phthalic anhydride was a surplus to a loss. From the future market perspective,there are still differences in the price trend of both raw materials, and the cost pressure of phthalic anhydride will continue to increase. As of April 14th, the reference price of phthalic anhydride was 8562.5 yuan (ton price, the same below), which decreased by 0.72% compared with April 1. In North China, for example, the mainstream price of phthalic anhydride is 8400 ~ 8500 yuan, naphthalene anhydride market price is 8100 ~ 8200 yuan.

The two ingredients go down and up
“The price of o-xylene, a raw material for o-phthalic anhydride, has rebounded since March. The main driver is the rising dollar market. The domestic o-xylene export window continues to open, combined with the expected impact of o-xylene equipment maintenance, and the market speculation atmosphere is strong. Driven by the price rise of main petrochemical plants, the domestic o-xylene market shows a trend of continuous rise. The gains have since moderated, but are still up more than 7 per cent on a monthly basis, well ahead of the less than 3 per cent gain for ortho-phthalic anhydride.” Longzhong information analyst Jia Mingjin said.

And naphthalene method of anhydride raw material industry naphthalene and o – xylene trend is different. The industrial naphthalene market first stabilized and then fell, the demand is poor, coupled with the high raw material inventory of the anhydride enterprises, the procurement of industrial naphthalene is negative, and the bidding price in the main producing areas continues to decline to aggravate the bearish sentiment, the regional price fell broadly. Industrial naphthalene prices have fallen from more than 6,000 yuan in early March to around 5,500 yuan now.

The profits of the two processes diverge
Market analysts such as Jia Mingjin believe that the different trends of raw materials have caused two processes of benic anhydride to differentiate the profit. The profits of the neighboring benhypenhydride industry have continued to narrow,from profit to loss, and the industry losses continue to expand the trend, domestic phthalic anhydride industry pressure. Naphthalene method phthalic anhydride in the raw material industry naphthalene prices fell, the industry profit space to expand. Statistics show that in March, phthalic anhydride loss of more than 40 yuan per ton, naphthalene gross profit is close to 300 yuan.

From the perspective of the market,in the short term, o-xylene production and capacity utilization is still a downward trend, the overall supply is tight, the price may continue to advance, squeezing the profit space of o-phthalic anhydride. For the industrial naphthalene market, the price has hit the traders’ psychological price, the decline is expected to ease, but the early maintenance device restart will be bearish for the industrial naphthalene market, naphthalene anhydride profit still has room to rise.

Market stabilization slightly upward
In March, the domestic phthalic anhydride market rushed high and fell back, bottoming out and stabilizing at the end of the month, and began to increase slightly in April.

Jin Lianchuang analyst Teng Yu introduced that in March, due to the continuous rise in raw materials, the price difference between the internal and external high, domestic anhydride export volume, superimposed anhydride device overhaul, market supply tightening, driving the domestic anhydride price rebound. But the good times are not long, with the anhydride market into the high, the downstream demand continues to be weak, combined with the impact of the European and American banking crisis, the market panic atmosphere, commodity futures market fell, the domestic anhydride market trading also fell into the freezing point, the anhydride market fell rapidly, the market stabilized a small correction at the end of the month. In March, the average monthly price of phthalic anhydride was 8,432 yuan, and that of naphthalene anhydride was 8,166 yuan.

The naphthalene process benefits more
Teng Yu and other industry insiders said that because of the price difference between the two markets, the market of orthophthalic anhydride and naphthalene anhydride recovered less than naphthalene anhydride, basically in a state of stagnation, naphthalene anhydride market in April, a slight increase of 50 to 100 yuan.

In the future, in terms of adjacent phthalic anhydride, Xinyang technology 50,000 tons/year device parking replacement catalyst, Zhenjiang Liancheng and Taizhou Liancheng 60,000 tons/year device parking maintenance, adjacent phthalic anhydride industry operating rate or significant decline. In terms of naphthalene anhydride, Shanxi Nubo 40,000 tons/year plant shutdown, Shandong Zhongtai 50,000 tons/year plant, Cigna Lixing 40,000 tons/year plant and Tangshan Huayi 40,000 tons/year plant plan to stop and replace catalysts, and the operating rate of naphthalene anhydride industry will also decline to a certain extent.

From the supply side, the spot of both processes are tightening expectations, increasing the bullish momentum of the anhydride market. Naphthalic anhydride will benefit more if prices rise. In addition, naphthalene anhydride relying on price advantages will also suppress the increase of ortho-anhydride.

Weak demand will not recover for long
For the anhydride market, the demand end has not started is undoubtedly the biggest negative, it can be predicted that if the demand end is still no improvement, the anhydride market recovery is difficult to last.

Jilin Petrochemical sales staff He Junsong said that the main downstream of the anhydride is plasticizer and unsaturated resin, and the plasticizer is mainly downstream of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), PVC is one of the main raw materials for pipes outside the building. As the largest terminal application of PVC, the real estate industry has experienced a downward trend since the second half of 2021, with reduced demand for upstream related chemical products and continued weakening of the drag plasticizer market.

Specifically, in March, the plasticizer dioctyl phthalate (DOP) as the raw material went up, drove the price to a high, the end of the buying intention weakened, the transaction light.

From the perspective of the market outlook, the overall supply of DOP in April has reduced expectations slightly.Industry insiders said that the DOP industry operating rate is expected to be about 50% in April, the market in the cost end and demand end of the game show a shock consolidation situation, on the anhydride market lifting effect is not strong.

The unsaturated resin market for benhydish is still the buyer’s market. The news of lofty air is full of the market, and the possibility of weak short -term market is weak.There is no obvious improvement in the demand side, and replenishment is still the mainstream trend. Unsaturated resin manufacturers maintain orders on production, no order on the stop state, the purchase of anhydride is difficult to scale up.


Post time: Apr-26-2023