Introduction
Entering November, the overall domestic methacrylic acid market continued to offer high bids. Not only did the long-awaited downturn in market prices have not appeared, but the focus of real-order transactions in the market has also been reported to have risen high. The overall market transaction focus of domestic methacrylic acid brands has even shown a trend of high push up. The actual market transaction is hovering at 16000-16500 yuan/ton, and it is difficult to find low-priced sources.
First, in November, the domestic methacrylic acid plant’s operating load was low, the actual output was limited, and the supply of imported goods was insufficient.
In November, there were few domestic methacrylic acid plants operating normally. Wanhua Chemical’s methacrylic acid plant was shut down for maintenance from November 10th to 30th. In addition, the overall operating load of other domestic methacrylic acid production plants is limited, and some large-scale production enterprises also have preliminary plans for large-scale shutdown and maintenance plans in December. Affected by this, the overall domestic stock of methacrylic acid remained low, and the focus of real-order transactions in the market tended to be high-end.
Regarding the supply of imported methacrylic acid, due to the shutdown of methacrylic acid installations in parts of Asia in October and the gradual recovery in November, the import of methacrylic acid in November is less. Most outpout is for local self-use.
Secondly, in November, domestic methacrylic acid enterprises’ own downstream projects were gradually put into production, resulting in a certain decrease in the actual external sales of domestic market.
Heze Huali’s 50,000-ton/year (meth)acrylate hydroxy ester plant was officially put into operation at the end of October. The company currently has hydroxyethyl methacrylate, hydroxypropyl methacrylate, hydroxyethyl acrylate, and hydroxypropyl acrylate. The current operating load rate of products such as esters is about 70%. It is estimated that by November 10, the enterprise will start up operation at full capacity with 50,000 tons/year of hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate. Heze Huali’s 50,000-ton/year (meth)acrylic hydroxy ester equipment products have been officially launched for external sales, and more real orders have been sold on the market. In addition, Wanhua Chemical’s 20,000-ton/year hydroxy methacrylate plant will also be put into operation near November 10. The company mainly produces hydroxyethyl methacrylate and hydroxypropyl methacrylate and other products.
Both Heze Holley and Wanhua Chemical are important suppliers of methacrylic acid products in China, and as independent downstream projects are gradually put into operation smoothly, it means that the overall domestic actual methacrylic acid supply is showing a downward trend.
Third, the recent low raw material inventory of domestic methacrylic acid downstream end users has boosted the demand for restocking.
Since the end of October, the overall domestic methacrylic acid upstream and downstream markets continued to fluctuate, and related products showed a weak trend of consolidation. However, the overall offer price of methacrylic acid in China continues to be high, so downstream end users tend to maintain a cautious wait-and-see attitude. Entering the beginning of November, downstream end users are in the stage of rigid demand purchases. Therefore, the purchasing atmosphere of the overall domestic methacrylic acid market has maintained a good trend in recent times.
To sum up, it is expected that in November, the overall domestic supply of methacrylic acid products in China will be in a tight operating situation. Under the low market inventory, it is expected that market prices may continue to stay at a high level, and low-priced sources are difficult to find.
exp1@gzchem.com
2020-11-4