Price trend

The domestic acetic acid market continued to fluctuate in 2024, with overall prices falling weakly. According to the Commodity Market Analysis System of SunSirs, the average price of acetic acid at the end of the year was 2,970 RMB/ton, a decrease of 250 RMB/ton from 3,200 RMB/ton at the beginning of the year, with an overall decline of 7.19%. From the annual trend, the highest price of acetic acid was 3,675 RMB/ton, appearing in mid August, and the lowest price was 2,770 RMB/ton, appearing in early November, with a maximum amplitude of 24.63%.

From the monthly K-bar chart of acetic acid in 2024, the price fluctuated throughout the year, and the specific analysis can be divided into four stages:

Interval oscillation (January to June): maintenance plans for acetic acid plants in the first half of the year were frequent, and most companies' plant changes were relatively short, resulting in insufficient sustainability of positive news. In addition, downstream purchases were mainly long-term, and were not greatly affected by prices, which actually had a certain degree of suppression on the rise of acetic acid prices, leading to a decline in acetic acid prices after multiple increases.

Strong upward trend (mid July to mid August): during which there were many unexpected shutdowns of equipment and some maintenance delays, resulting in concentrated factory maintenance and a significant decline in the utilization rate of acetic acid production capacity. The market supply was reduced, and downstream replenishment sentiment was strong, supporting the strong upward trend of acetic acid market prices.

Weakly bottoming out (late August to early November): with the recovery of maintenance equipment, the supply of acetic acid in the market increased, and the supply-demand contradiction in the market had gradually emerged. Traders were eager to settle for safety, and the price of acetic acid continued to decline. However, downstream demand was not as expected, and the price decline did not decrease. Manufacturers' shipments were hindered, inventory pressure increased, and the mentality of buying up and not buying down led to a continuous bottoming out of acetic acid prices.

Narrow range upward trend (mid November to December): supply side news released again, with some facilities shutting down and reducing load, resulting in a slight decrease in capacity utilization rate, which brought certain benefits to the market. Although the on-site supply was still high, the phased reduction had also driven the recovery of acetic acid prices.

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