In mid March, the domestic ABS market continued to trend weakly, with most spot prices of various grades falling. According to the Commodity Market Analysis System of SunSirs, as of March 18th, the average price of ABS sample products was 11,425 RMB/ton, with a price level fluctuation of -2.14% compared to the beginning of the month.
Supply level: During mid March, there was limited change in the operating rate of the domestic ABS industry, and the overall load slightly decreased by 1% to around 73% compared to the first ten days. The average weekly output is close to 130,000 tons, and the inventory level of aggregation enterprises has risen to nearly 190,000 tons, indicating that the supply of goods is still very abundant. There has been no improvement in petrochemical plant orders, and traders are lagging behind in terms of goods delivery. Actual orders continue to yield profits, and there are more occurrences of orders being shipped. Overall, the supply side's support for ABS spot prices within ten days is average.
Cost factor: In mid March, the trend of ABS upstream materials continued to be weak, resulting in poor support for ABS cost side. Entering the middle of the year, the price of acrylonitrile remains weak and declining. At the same time, the high load of 80% to 90% in the industry has led to abundant supply in the market, and the profit situation of enterprises has improved to a loss. Falling to touch the theoretical production cost line, the bottoming effect of cost prices on acrylonitrile prices is gradually increasing, and the market downturn is slowing down. Expected consolidation of acrylonitrile market in the future.
The butadiene market fell first and then rose within ten days, and the overall trend is still weak. The market continues the previous trend, and the overall trading volume is weak, indicating poor market momentum. The downstream synthetic rubber futures market has improved, coupled with the temporary suspension of mainstream enterprises in East China, which has boosted some businesses to try to raise prices and hold back, leading to a stabilization of the spot market atmosphere and a slight rebound in market prices.
The decline in styrene continued in mid March. The recent decline in international oil prices for raw material pure benzene, coupled with downstream production restrictions to maintain prices, has led to inventory accumulation in major ports in East China and weakened market sentiment, accelerating the decline and dragging styrene down. There is little change in the supply of styrene, and downstream demand remains stable. It is expected that the market will stabilize after a short-term decline.
On the demand side: On the terminal side, we will continue the previous flat pattern, and after the downstream buying stagnation in mid March. The load increase of the terminal factory in the inquiry is not significant, and the purchasing logic tends to be weak in demand and bottom fishing. The atmosphere of on-site purchasing is sluggish, and the flow of goods is slow. Overall, the demand side has weak support for the ABS market.
In mid March, the domestic ABS market fluctuated and fell. The performance of the upstream three materials is poor, which has a relatively negative impact on the overall cost support of ABS. The load of ABS polymerization plant is stable with small fluctuations, and the inventory level is rising at a high level. The demand side expansion is still slow, and downstream enterprises have insufficient consumption. Business analysts believe that the ABS market has strong supply and weak demand, and it is difficult to find any positive results. In the short term, the market will still be dominated by weak consolidation.
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