Glacial acetic acid
In this period, the price of glacial acetic acid rose against the background of lower supply and declining inventory. With the Thorpe unit failure last Friday and unexpected load reduction and shutdown of the Tianjin and Celanese units over the weekend, market supply dropped sharply, so corporate inventories fell simultaneously at the beginning of the week. As the market enters the market, factory prices increase accordingly. Traders continue to stock up and sell off early low-priced supply, and downstream replenishment is mainly based on demand. After mid-week, as some downstream replenishments are coming to an end and lipid downstream maintenance plans are issued, the overall market trading atmosphere has entered a stable stage.
In this period, glacial acetic acid inventories have been declining in all regions. Recently, equipment has been fluctuating frequently, and supply has decreased. External processing plants have a strong push for prices, which has promoted traders and downstream enthusiasm for picking up goods. Therefore, the overall inventory has declined, and it is expected that corporate inventories may continue to decline in the next period.
Ethyl acetate
The market price of ethyl acetate increased slightly this week. It increased by 64 yuan/ton compared with last week and increased by 1.08 percentage points month-on-month.
At the beginning of the week, the market price of ethyl acetate continued to rise last week. However, as most of the early orders have yet to be consumed, and most downstream users have executed early contracts, social inventories are high, and traders are actively arbitraging shipments. Suppressing market growth and transaction volume, some factories have accumulated inventory, and short-term shipment demand still exists. However, most industry players are cautious about the long-term mentality of acetic acid and terminal demand. Although some news of production cuts and shutdowns were released during the period, it is difficult to boost the overall buying enthusiasm. Relative to the weak demand, the slight reduction in supply is difficult to boost market buying. The market will eventually have to meet demand, and upstream profit-taking and shipments will take priority.
Looking forward to next week, although there are maintenance plans in East and South China, the supply side of the market remains relatively stable at this stage, and it is difficult to see a significant increase in consumption in some downstream areas. After this week’s consumption, there is no lack of periodic buying demand before the May Day holiday, but the volume performance is limited; at the raw material level, the acetic acid and ethanol markets may be operating stably, and it is difficult to find strong support for costs. All things considered, the short-term ethyl acetate market is expected to remain weak.
Butyl acetate
Butyl acetate market prices fluctuated within a narrow range this week. It increased by 1 yuan/ton from last week and 0.01 percentage points from the previous month.
At the beginning of the week, due to the weakening price of raw material n-butanol, the cost side continued to affect the industry’s mentality towards the market outlook, and after terminals replenished supplies in the early stage, there was a lack of acceptance of new orders, upstream shipments were blocked, and profit-making priority was given to volume shipments. In the later period, the price of raw material n-butanol rose, and the cost side once again provided support to the market, because some traders on the market still had low-priced supply in the early stage. There is a willingness to take profits, the increase in actual orders is still limited, and the factory considers that domestic demand consumption is slow, the overall power performance is insufficient, and multi-dimensional and stable shipments are the main focus.
Looking at next week, there is a risk of a correction in the raw material n-butanol market, poor cost performance, and a significant decline in downstream purchasing enthusiasm. Although there are export orders in the upstream, the execution of large orders will end towards the end of the month. It is expected that the butyl acetate market may consolidate next week, and attention will be paid to cost guidance.
Post time: Apr-19-2024