In the third quarter, the domestic styrene market has been widely oscillating, with the supply and demand sides of the markets in East China, South China and North China showing some differentiation, and frequent changes in inter-regional spreads, with East China still guiding the trends of the other markets, but other markets have also increased their stage grip on mainstream East China.

Styrene market in the third quarter, a wide range of oscillations, international crude oil, the cost side and supply and demand side in each time period guide the strength of different performance, East China, South China and the northern market supply and demand side there are certain differences in performance, and frequent price changes between regions. Overall, most of the time in the third quarter, East China market to maintain a tight supply situation, South China market most of the time supply is relatively adequate, while the northern market between tight goods and tight balance changes. Taking the trend in East China as an example, the third quarter can be divided into two waves as follows.
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July – mid-August – Styrene market high shock after diving deep

In July, East China styrene maintained a high level of oscillation, with spot negotiations around the RMB 9600-10700/ton range and more frequent ups and downs. Terminal inventory remains low, the supply side continues to be tight, and high cost pressure exists to support. However, the periphery is unstable, just demand for high-priced raw materials to follow up on the lack of business phase on the medium and long term supply of incremental concerns, the overall center of gravity is also restrained, up and down are difficult to have sustainable performance. However, entering August, due to the plunge in crude oil, commodity futures in general, raw materials, pure benzene plummeted, multiple negative pressure, styrene easily fell below 9000 yuan / ton mark to open the decline channel, Shandong individual large enterprises shipping prices low impact on East China is obvious, macro weakness, Sinopec pure benzene listing price continued to cut pressure, East China styrene main port inventory rose one after another, the weaker the spot market, as of August 18 By the end of August 18, East China spot negotiation slumped to 8180-8200 yuan / ton, refreshing a new low for the year.

Mid-August to September – styrene market diving after a rapid rebound to close

After a continuous plunge, international crude oil prices higher, chemical commodity futures generally turn strong, raw materials pure benzene center of gravity back up, styrene homeopathy to stop the rapid rebound, especially domestic styrene continued to start not high, the impact of two typhoons, the terminal inventory is slow to accumulate storage, the first half of September once fell to 36,000 tons, reaching a new low since more than four years, spot tight pattern is slow to ease, just demand and part of the short order to cover with Good, styrene following the early September rebound breakthrough to 9500 yuan / ton above, the month continued around 9550-9850 yuan / ton range finishing. Near the end of the third quarter, crude oil dived, energy and chemical commodities fell, long positions and short positions to pressure the futures plate deep down, before the National Day holiday traders to bag for peace, styrene spot quickly back down, as of September 29, East China spot fell to 9080-9100 yuan / ton.

Outlook styrene market situation in the fourth quarter

Global major economies will continue to maintain monetary tightening policy, continued interest rate hike policy will make the economy and demand recession is expected, at the same time, the geopolitical crisis continues or the potential support for crude oil, the periphery remains volatile. From the supply-demand balance of styrene, the gradual transition to supply easing, and cost-side support weakening is expected in the fourth quarter, the height of styrene and fluctuations in the center of gravity of the probability of shaking down, but in the short and medium term, up and down sustainability are not enough. Specifically.

Upstream pure benzene, in the fourth quarter, we need to pay attention to Shenghong refining and Weilian second phase of production and output progress, in addition to the late pure benzene and hydrogenated benzene parking device restart plans to increase the overall downstream expansion is relatively less than the medium and long-term supply tends to be loose, the cost side or there is some pressure on styrene.

In terms of styrene, the supply side is expected to increase, in addition to the reduction in planned maintenance of old domestic units, there is also an increase in imported supply is expected. 11-12 months, East China, some of the main styrene large unit maintenance heard, but the plant said it has not been finalized, still depends on the market. In terms of new units, Lianyungang Petrochemical 600,000 tons/year SM new unit is scheduled to be put into operation in November, and several other new units have a higher probability of being delayed. Demand side, the main downstream demand in the short and medium term is expected to remain stable, as the weather turns cold, the northern market part of the downstream demand is expected to weaken, then, need to pay attention to the impact of the flow of styrene domestic trade between the regional sources.

Chemwin is a chemical raw material trading company in China, located in Shanghai Pudong New Area, with a network of ports, terminals, airports and railroad transportation, and with chemical and hazardous chemical warehouses in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangyin, Dalian and Ningbo Zhoushan, China, storing more than 50,000 tons of chemical raw materials all year round, with sufficient supply, welcome to purchase and inquire. chemwin email: service@skychemwin.com whatsapp: 19117288062 Tel: +86 4008620777 +86 19117288062