European Aniline Prices Increase in April 2023 Due to Rise in Feedstock Costs

Aniline's price quotations were marginally raised by producers in April 2023. The supplies were stable due to moderate operational rates to avoid product procurement activities. Meanwhile, the demand for Aniline was underwhelming due to the surplus availability of the previous stock of downstream product Methylene Diphenyl Di isocyanates from the previous quarter. The consumption rates of Methylene Diphenyl Di isocyanates were sluggish from Polyurethane industries, and downstream producers started destocking practices and exported materials at lower prices to countries like India. Europe's manufacturing PMI rose slightly during April 2023, indicating improvement in manufacturing activities but remained below 50.

The cost support on Aniline was firm from key feedstock Benzene amid tight supplies and increased cost support from high upstream Brent Crude Oil prices during the first half of April. However, cost support eased due to the fall in Crude Oil prices during the second half of April. Consequently, Benzene prices rose by 9% during the month.

On the contrary, Aniline's other feedstock Nitric Acid prices declined in the European region during April due to consistent decreases in upstream Natural Gas prices from the beginning of the year due to excess supplies and declining demand for heating purposes with rising temperatures. Simultaneously, decreases in input costs further reduced the variable costs of operations on Aniline's production costs.

As per the ChemAnalyst data sources, Aniline prices in Germany and Belgium witnessed a slight increment of 2% and 1.5% in the last month's prices and hovered at USD 1853/MT and USD 1845/MT, respectively.

According to the ChemAnalyst estimation, "Aniline demand will improve, and prices will likely increase in the coming months as the production rates and available inventory levels are moderate. After the destocking practices in downstream industries, it is more likely to be seen that the consumption rates will incline amid an acceleration in new production orders. Furthermore, the anticipated increase in feedstock Benzene prices amid volatile upstream Crude Oil prices will raise the cost support on the Aniline's future costs."