Price Trend

The domestic acetic acid market fell sharply this week, with the average price of acetic acid in eastern China at about 3166 yuan/ton at the beginning of the week and 3033 yuan/ton at the end of the week, a decline of 4.21%. At present, the quotation in Henan is about 2700-2750/ton; in Shandong is about 2900-3050 yuan/ton; in Hebei is about 3000-3050 yuan/ton; in Shaanxi is about 2600 yuan/ton; in Jiangsu is about 2850-3000 yuan/ton; in Zhejiang is about 3050-3150 yuan/ton; in South China, the quotation is about 3200-3250 yuan/ton, which is 35.58% lower than that in the same period last year.

II. Cause Analysis

Products: This week, the domestic acetic acid market as a whole weakened significantly. Affected by the two sessions, downstream construction began to decline, demand was low, the overall trade in the industry was flat and the export negotiations were not good, which could hardly support the price of acetic acid. In terms of start-up, the Shunda 400,000 tons/year plant in Henan Province resumed normal production within a week, Yankuang Cathay Pacific 1.2 million tons/year plant reduced negative operation within a week, Jiangsu Soap 1.2 million tons/year plant maintenance for one week on March 5, Nanjing BP 500,000 tons/year plant maintenance plan for mid-March, Hebei Jiantao 500,000 tons/year plant maintenance plan at the end of the month, the overall start-up rate of the industry this week is about 86%.

Industry chain: Upstream, affected by the equipment overhaul period, the domestic methanol market is strong this week. At the beginning of the week, the average domestic methanol market price was 2 480 yuan/ton, and at the end of the week it was 2558 yuan/ton. The price increased by 3.15% in the week, 5.81% compared with the same period last year. This week, the acetate industry in the downstream of acetic acid was in full supply, but the downstream gas purchases were poor and the overall weak operation. The PTA market offered less in the week and slightly weakened.

International: This week, the North American acetic acid market is strongly affected by the price of raw material methanol, which is now around 585 US dollars per ton in a week; the Asian acetic acid market, which is affected by high start-up and inventory levels and low demand, has weakened sharply in a week, with the current quotation of US$390-450 per ton; and the European acetic acid market demand is stable, which is currently around 695 Euros per ton.

3. Future Market Forecast

Acetic acid analysts believe that the domestic acetic acid price has fallen to a low level, some downstream users and traders began to copy the bottom. As a result of the continuous price decline and the upstream methanol market remains strong, acetic acid has approached the cost price, and production enterprises have introduced maintenance plans, which are expected to stabilize the acetic acid Market in the short term.