Weakening demand and crashing Upstream Benzene in the Chinese market support the falling of Maleic Anhydride prices

During the first week of January, the domestic Maleic Anhydride market price fell substantially due to weak downstream demand. The operational rate of the downstream unsaturated resin market has recently decreased and purchasing sentiment has also been seen to be slow, driving down Maleic Anhydride prices. The current week's prices fell by 21% to USD 1846 per metric tonne Ex Ningbo. Furthermore, because industrial shipments were running well, there were various Maleic Anhydride stockpiles in the industries that could be purchased.

Due to low demand, one of the major producers of Maleic Anhydride has lowered its prices. logistics costs were also decreased as a result of ample container availability and a poor industrial market, which kept the offers low. Upstream Benzene prices fell in early week, indicating a downward trend, in anticipation of increased supply as many producers in South China were expected to resume operations. Furthermore, poor trading activity, combined with dampened demand for petrochemicals across Asia owing to the beginning of the year, kept market attitudes pessimistic and tended to ease the product's values even more.

Before the Lunar New Year holidays, traders had basically finished stocking, the market situation had slowed down, and market supply tension had lessened. Despite an unfavourable start to the year, the recent quick increase in market pricing has driven Maleic Anhydride makers' profitability to a new high for the year, with gross profit margins exceeding 40% in some regions.

As per ChemAnalyst, “The current Maleic Anhydride market is on the decline. There is a significant wait and see sentiment among the traders. Downstream Resin market have eased as the performance of the downstream industries is average during the start of the year. Prices are forecasted to continue falling in the upcoming weeks in the Chinese market”