According to the data monitored by the Business News Agency, as of March 27, the price of power type premium lithium iron phosphate was 110000 yuan/ton, a weak decline compared to the same period last week in the lithium iron phosphate market, with the overall price falling 9.09%. The mainstream price range is around 110000 yuan/ton, mainly for contract customers, and new orders are not received.

This week, lithium iron phosphate is mainly in weak operation, and the price has dropped significantly. Currently, the mainstream price is 110000 yuan/ton. The upstream lithium iron carbonate price is in weak operation, and the cost side of lithium iron phosphate lacks support. Downstream procurement is just needed, and the demand is insufficient. The focus of negotiation is flat, and the order is slow. The manufacturer’s supply source is only for old customers. Currently, the operating rate is normal, and the logistics is smooth. In the short term, lithium iron phosphate is in weak operation.

Chemical commodity index: On March 26, the chemical index stood at 910 points, unchanged from yesterday, down 35.00% from the cycle’s highest point of 1400 points (2021-10-23), and up 52.17% from the lowest point of 598 points on April 8, 2020. (Note: The cycle refers to 2011-12-01 to now).

Analysts from the Business Society believe that the weak and stable operation of the lithium iron phosphate market is dominant in the short term.

This week (3.20~3.27), the nitrile rubber market declined weakly. According to the monitoring of Business News Agency, as of March 27, the price of nitrile rubber was 16025 yuan/ton, down 3.03% from 16525 yuan/ton last Monday. The prices of butadiene and acrylonitrile as raw materials fell slightly, while the cost support for nitrile rubber was weak; Downstream demand is weak, market transactions are flat, and the price of nitrile rubber is lower. Currently, the mainstream market price of Lanhua nitrile 3305 in East China is 15200~15500 yuan/ton; Nandi butyronitrile 1052 mainstream reported 17800~18000 yuan/ton.

This week (3.20-3.27), the prices of raw materials butadiene and acrylonitrile fell slightly, while the cost of nitrile rubber was weak. As of March 27, the price of butadiene was at 8575 yuan/ton, down 1.33% from 8691 yuan/ton on Monday, according to the monitoring by the Business News Agency; As of March 27, the price of acrylonitrile was 10275 yuan/ton, down 0.96% from 10375 yuan/ton on Monday.

Nitrile rubber supply side slightly improved.

The downstream rubber products industry, such as rubber pipes and auto parts, is dominated by small inquiries, with a small amount of transactions in the market.

Future Forecast: Business Agency nitrile analysts believe that the current supply of nitrile rubber has slightly increased, coupled with the continued weakening of the prices of raw materials butadiene and acrylonitrile, and the cost of nitrile rubber is weak; It is expected that the nitrile rubber market will be weak and consolidated in the short term.

Price trend

According to data from the bulk list of business agencies, the vitamin market has seen significant stability and small movements this week, with active inquiries for individual products and limited actual transactions. Most product prices are operating at the bottom, lacking upward momentum.

According to the price monitoring of the Business Agency, the vitamin C market fell slightly this week, with the average price of food grade vitamin C at 26 yuan/kg at the beginning of the week and 25.67 yuan/kg at the end of the week, a decrease of 1.27%. The overall trading volume of vitamin C market is light, with a large number of small orders traded. The downstream market just needs to enter the market, and the demand is weak. The overall market situation is mostly in line with the market, with no significant positive support for the time being, and the operation is weak.

This week, the price of vitamin A remained low and stable. The mainstream price of feed grade vitamin A in the market was 88-93 yuan/kg, and the European market quoted 23.5-25 euros/kg. The vitamin A market has maintained a weak downward trend, with domestic vitamin A oversupply and weak demand, making it difficult to overcome the weakness of vitamin A.

The price of vitamin E has not fluctuated much this week, with the current mainstream price quoted in the VE market ranging from 75-80 yuan per ton. The quotation for the European market is 8.2-8.4 euros/kg. The willingness of factories to stand up to prices is obvious, but the push up is weak. Market trading is slightly active, and market attention has increased.

Aftermarket Forecast

Vitamin analysts from the Chemical Branch of the Business Society believe that some vitamin markets are still weak and there is a strong wait-and-see atmosphere in the market. In the future, they will closely monitor the production, sales, and market trends of enterprises.

Price trend

According to data from the bulk list of business news agencies, the trend of the vitamin market this week continues to be weak, with weak demand. The prices of most products continue to decline, and the trading of individual varieties is relatively active.

According to the price monitoring of the Business Agency, the vitamin C market fell slightly this week, with the average price of food grade vitamin C at 26.33 yuan/kg at the beginning of the week and 26 yuan/kg at the end of the week, a decrease of 1.26%. The overall trading volume of vitamin C market is light, with a large number of small orders traded. The downstream market just needs to enter the market, and the demand is weak. The overall market situation is mostly in line with the market, with no significant positive support for the time being, and the operation is weak.

The price of vitamin A continued to decline this week, with the average price of feed grade vitamin A at the beginning of the week at 92.5 yuan/kg and at the end of the week at 92.25 yuan/kg, a decrease of 0.27% during the week. The current mainstream market quotation is 88-92 yuan/kg, while the European market quotation has dropped to 23.5-25 euros/kg. The vitamin A market has maintained a weak downward trend, with domestic vitamin A oversupply and weak demand, making it difficult to overcome the weakness of vitamin A.

The price of vitamin E has not fluctuated much this week, with the current mainstream price quoted in the VE market ranging from 75-80 yuan per ton. The quotation for the European market is 8.2-8.4 euros/kg. The willingness of factories to stand up to prices is obvious, but the push up is weak. Market trading is slightly active, and market attention has increased.

Aftermarket Forecast

Vitamin analysts from the Chemical Branch of the Business Society believe that some vitamin markets are still weak and there is a strong wait-and-see atmosphere in the market. In the future, they will closely monitor the production, sales, and market trends of enterprises.

Price trend

In mid March, the domestic EVA market was stagnant after rising, and spot prices were mixed. According to data monitoring by Business News Agency, as of March 20, the average ex-factory price of EVA in China was 16766.67 yuan/ton, an increase of 3.71% compared to the beginning of the month.

Cause analysis

In terms of raw materials:

Recently, the market for ethylene at the raw material end has shown a steady but weak performance. In the early stage, the shutdown and maintenance benefits of South Korean devices have been exhausted. In addition, the supply of goods from Europe and the United States is about to arrive in Hong Kong, and the market supply of goods is gradually increasing. The cost side price of petroleum naphtha also declined as crude oil fell, and overall, ethylene fundamentals were weak. The domestic downstream factories of vinyl acetate are generally operating, and on-site consumption tends to be just in demand. The supply side is relatively abundant, causing a drag on the spot market. The superimposed cost side has weakened, and the current spot market for vinyl acetate is temporarily not positive, with prices finishing in a weak position. The market for raw materials has weakened, giving poor support to the EVA market.

On the supply side:

In mid March, the load of domestic EVA increased rapidly due to the resumption of work by multiple production enterprises. The current industry operating rate is 91.4%, up about 12.1% from the previous ten days. At the same time, domestic production increased simultaneously, with a total output of 41600 tons last week, an increase of 5400 tons compared to the previous week. The impact of rising factory inventory pressure is not obvious, and factory factory prices are running at a competitive price. However, social inventory has started to rise, and traders have operated to sell profits and take orders. Within the range, mainstream brand spot prices accounted for the majority of the horizontal trend, and overall, supplier support for spot prices has weakened.

Demand:

Recently, the domestic market atmosphere of EVA has been mixed, and there are also differences in downstream market prices in different directions. The smooth delivery of photovoltaic materials and optimistic consumption are the main support for the current downstream of EVA. On the other hand, the demand for foaming materials is relatively weak. Terminal enterprises have lagged behind in follow-up, consumption of footwear materials and other aspects has not improved compared to the previous period, and there is little intra-field trading. Enterprises tend to maintain production in their stocking operations, with a heavy market wait-and-see atmosphere and resistance to high-priced sources of goods. Demand side support is strong and weak, with general support for EVA price quotations.

Aftermarket Forecast

Overall, the EVA market performance in mid March was generally stagnant, with prices stabilizing slightly. The raw material market turned down, reducing the support for EVA spot products. Downstream demand differentiation is evident, with photovoltaic materials and foam materials becoming stronger and weaker, and overall, there is a stalemate in support of EVA demand side. EVA polymerization plant inventory pressure is acceptable, and traders’ inventory position is on the high side. The stock removal operation on the market superimposes the divergence of mentality among the operators. Currently, the market offers are chaotic, and arbitrage and order taking operations are increasing. The market is intertwined between long and short periods, and it is expected that the current domestic EVA market will focus on digesting inventory, and prices may fluctuate in a narrow range in the short term.

The acrylonitrile market has declined slightly since March. According to data monitoring by Business News Agency, as of March 20, the bulk water price in the acrylonitrile market was 10375 yuan/ton, down 1.19% from 10500 yuan/ton at the beginning of the month. Currently, the market price of acrylonitrile is between 10200 and 10500 yuan/ton from the tank. The price of raw materials decreased, and the cost of acrylonitrile declined; Acrylonitrile supply side slightly decreased; In addition, although the prices of downstream ABS and polyacrylamide have weakened, there is still a strong need for support, and the acrylonitrile market is currently slightly deadlocked.

Since March, the domestic acrylonitrile operating rate has been between 60% and 70%.

Since March, the raw material propylene market has declined, and the cost of acrylonitrile has declined. According to the monitoring of Business News Agency, as of March 20, the domestic propylene price was 7176 yuan/ton, down 4.60% from 7522 yuan/ton at the beginning of the month.

Downstream ABS prices have declined, but the commencement of industrial units is still around 80%, and there is still a strong need for support for acrylonitrile; In early March, the 65000 ton/year nitrile rubber plant in Shunze, Ningbo, was shut down, and the domestic nitrile rubber production started lower, with slightly weaker support for acrylonitrile. Polyacrylamide prices have fallen, and stable construction operations have weak support for acrylonitrile.

Future Forecast: Acrylonitrile analysts from the Business Agency believe that the current supply and demand of acrylonitrile is slightly deadlocked, but the cost side is downward. It is expected that the acrylonitrile market may decline slightly in the future.

According to the data monitored by the Business News Agency, as of March 17, the average price of domestic rubber grade premium white carbon black was 5750.00 yuan/ton. This week, the white carbon black market operated smoothly, compared to the same period last week, with the overall market operating smoothly, with the mainstream price of 5700 yuan/ton.

This week, the stable operation of the white carbon black market is dominated, and the price remains stable. The mainstream price is around 6000 yuan/ton. The focus of negotiation is stable, with contract customers as the main focus, and downstream procurement on demand. The number of new orders is limited.

Chemical index: On March 16, the chemical index stood at 920 points, unchanged from yesterday, down 34.29% from the cycle’s highest point of 1400 points (2021-10-23), and up 53.85% from the lowest point of 598 points on April 8, 2020. (Note: The cycle refers to 2011-12-01 to now).

 
“The white carbon black analyst of the Business Society believes that the stable operation of the white carbon black market is the main factor in the short term.

According to the monitoring data of the Business News Agency, as of March 10, 2023, the domestic market price of silicone DMC was 16960 yuan/ton. Compared with the price on March 5, 2023 (the reference price of silicone DMC was 17380 yuan/ton), the price was reduced by 280 yuan/ton, a decrease of 2.42%.

It can be seen from the data monitoring chart of the business agency that at the beginning of March, the domestic silicone DMC market has started a weak decline, and entered this week (3.06-3.10). The decline of the silicone DMC market has not stopped, and the overall focus of the market continues to decline. The main influencing factor for the continuous decline of silicone DMC market comes from the demand side. The overall performance of the downstream demand of the silicone DMC is still calm, the transmission of supply and demand is slow, the new orders received by the downstream are not followed up in time, the overall supply of the silicone DMC is under pressure, the contradiction between supply and demand is emerging, and the silicone DMC market is back to the repair stage. As of March 10, the domestic silicone DMC market price is around 16800-17000 yuan/ton, with a decline of about 200-400 yuan/ton compared with the beginning of the week.

Future trend forecast of silicone DMC market

At present, the supply side of organic silicon DMC is actively regulated. Some factories have shutdown and maintenance plans this month. The overall operating rate of organic silicon DMC has been reduced. The overall downstream demand still needs to be carried out gradually. The supply and demand sides are in tune with each other. The organic silicon DMC data analyst of the business agency believes that in the short term, the domestic organic silicon DMC market is mainly subject to narrow adjustment and operation, and the specific trend needs to pay more attention to the changes in the information on the supply and demand side.

1、 Trend analysis

According to the nickel price monitoring of the Business Agency, the nickel price fell slightly this week. As of March 10, the spot nickel quotation was 185650 yuan/ton, down 4.47% from the beginning of the week and 23.04% year-on-year.

Weekly rise and fall chart of nickel

According to the weekly rise and fall chart of the Business News Agency, the nickel price has risen by 4 and fallen by 7 in the past 12 weeks, and the nickel price has declined in a weak way recently.

Nickel industry chain

LME nickel inventory

On the macro side, Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said in his testimony to the Congress this week that the Federal Reserve might accelerate the pace of interest rate increase and raise the interest rate to a higher level than previously expected, which increased people’s concerns about economic activity and global industrial metal demand. China’s CPI fell in February, with a year-on-year increase of 1%, 1.1 percentage points lower than the previous month, and 0.5% lower than the previous month; The production recovery of industrial enterprises accelerated, the market demand improved, and the PPI was flat on a month-on-month basis, with a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%. The year-on-year decrease was 0.6 percentage points higher than that of the previous month.

In terms of supply: the newly built pure nickel capacity is still to be released, and domestic smelters also have incremental expectations. The supply tension of pure nickel has eased. Since the beginning of the year, the supply of nickel market has been significantly sufficient. It is expected that the pure nickel output will be in a climbing state in March. The import side is expected to increase after the news of Russian nickel mixed pricing came out last week.

In terms of demand: although the contradiction of stainless steel supply is difficult to solve for a while, it also forces some enterprises to start the maintenance plan in advance, and the stainless steel went to the warehouse in a small scale last week, and the demand showed a warming signal; In the new energy vehicle industry, according to the data, the global sales of new energy vehicles in January 2023 was 658000, with a year-on-year increase of 12%, penetration rate of 12.1%, and China’s share of 56.9%. At the same time, the policy helped to stimulate demand, and the share of new energy vehicles market was expected to increase unchanged.

To sum up, the current nickel price has reached the cost line of nickel electrodeposition from nickel sulfate, which may temporarily support the nickel price. However, Russian nickel import is expected to be strong, and domestic refined nickel smelting has not heard of any disturbance. The overall supply increment is expected to remain unchanged for the time being. In the peak season of gold, silver and silver, consumer demand slowly recovered. The short-term macro market suppressed the metal price, and the supply and demand increased. It is expected that the short-term low volatility of nickel price will prevail.

The butadiene rubber market has declined slightly since March. According to the monitoring of Business News Agency, as of March 13, the domestic price of polybutadiene rubber was 11820 yuan/ton, down 2.31% from 12100 yuan/ton at the beginning of the month. The price of raw material butadiene fell, and the cost support of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber weakened; During the period, the factory price of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber supplier was reduced by 200~300 yuan/ton, and the offer of merchants was slightly lower. According to the monitoring of the Business News Agency, the ex-factory price of butadiene rubber of Sinopec North China Sales Company was 11700 yuan/ton as of March 13. As of the 13th, the mainstream market of butadiene rubber in Qilu, Yanshan, Yangzi, Dushanzi and Sichuan reported 11700~11900 yuan/ton, while the mainstream market of private butadiene rubber reported 11750~11850 yuan/ton.

The supply of polybutadiene rubber has fluctuated slightly since March.

Since March, the price of raw material butadiene has declined, and the cost support of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber has weakened. According to the monitoring of Business News Agency, as of March 13, the price of butadiene was 9166 yuan/ton, down 5.62% from 9712 yuan/ton at the beginning of the month.

Since March, the natural rubber market has declined, and the impact on cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber is on the short side. According to the monitoring of Business News Agency, the price of natural rubber was 11630 yuan/ton as of March 13, down 3.24% from 12020 yuan/ton at the beginning of the month.

Since March, the construction of downstream tires has risen slightly, but affected by the continuous decline in the price of natural rubber, the purchase of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber is not active. It is understood that by the first ten days of March 2023, the starting load of all steel tires of rubber tire enterprises in Shandong Province was 6.9%; The starting load of semi-steel tire of domestic rubber tire enterprises is 7.3%.

Aftermarket forecast: analysts from the Business Agency believe that at present, the supply of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber fluctuates slightly, and the enterprise maintenance and restart plan coexist in the later stage; The inventory of downstream raw materials is gradually consumed, but due to the low price of natural rubber, the purchase of cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber is not good. It is expected that the cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber will be consolidated in a narrow range in the short term, and attention will be paid to the accumulation and destocking of natural rubber in the future.