Price of Purified Terephthalic Acid continue to elevate in March owing to soaring Crude oil market

The unprecedented energy prices have found reflection on the full chain of the PTA industry, affecting its price trend. The PTA price trend was seen fluctuating following the trend of Crude oil which directly affected its feedstock Paraxylene. Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) is a commodity chemical that is mainly used to produce Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).

In the Asia Pacific region, pent-up demand in the global market was accompanied by major production issues at PTA plants, particularly in China. On March 16, another 1.5-million-ton PTA plant in Jiangsu got shut down, reducing its operating load to 74.52 percent. The global nations were just retreating from extensive trade disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, including financial sanctions tightening on Russia. In addition, the current Covid outbreak in China has further fuelled the PTA market hampering the demand-supply chain. The downstream PET and textile industries were operating at high rates, thus the quotation for Purified Terephthalic Acid was found rising high. As of March 18th, 2022, the price got settled at USD 1222 FOB-Charleston (USA).

Further, against China’s zero-tolerance policy, port Yantian which is a major exporting port to Europe has been closed, hampering the supply chains. According to the sources, there was a 28.5% increase in the number of vessels waiting outside of the port that has been closed due to the current lockdown in some provinces like Shanghai, Jilin and Guangzhou.

As per ChemAnalyst, the Purified Terephthalic Acid market may see high demand from its downstream PET industries amidst the seasonal change hitting the northern hemisphere. The fluctuating Crude oil on daily basis may further affect the trend to follow the zigzag movement. It is anticipated that the Purified Terephthalic Acid market will witness more such plant closures in the upcoming period.