At the end of August, the overall ABS market continued to be weak, with some grades experiencing a decline in spot prices. According to the Commodity Market Analysis System of SunSirs, as of August 26th, the average price of ABS sample products was 10,150 RMB/ton, with a price level increase or decrease of -1.58% compared to early August.

Supply level: Since August, the domestic ABS industry has seen an increase in load before leveling off. The Dalian Hengli plant restarted in the first half of the month, and the Tianjin Dagu equipment pipeline blowing task ended. At the end of the month, the equipment dynamics were limited, and the overall industry load level remained at 71% of mid month. The weekly average output was around 140,000 tons, which remained stable. The inventory level of aggregation enterprises increased at a high level of 230,000 tons, and the supply on site remained abundant. Overall, the long-term loose supply pattern in the ABS market remains unchanged, and the high inventory levels in the industry are relatively controllable. But Zhenjiang Qimei and Liaoning Jinfa have heard that there is a plan to increase the load, and the supply side is expected to continue to be loose. Therefore, the supply side has weak support for ABS spot prices.

Cost factor: At the end of August, the ABS upstream three material market had a relatively narrow change, which had limited impact on the cost side support of ABS. Acrylonitrile is operating in a stalemate within the interval, and Zhejiang Petrochemical has increased production, resulting in an increase in on-site supply. The main force in consumption lies in contract delivery, while spot market trading is sluggish, leading to increased pressure on local inventory. Combined with the decline in the raw material propylene market, it is expected that acrylonitrile may continue to remain weakly stable in the short term.

The domestic butadiene market fluctuated slightly at the end of August. In mid month, the Fushun petrochemical plant underwent maintenance, and at the same time, after a period of digestion of port cargo, low-priced spot goods in the market decreased, and the atmosphere of the spot market began to improve. On the other hand, the rise in downstream rubber futures has boosted the market, and positive news is transmitted upwards. The overall performance of the butadiene market is biased towards positive, with a narrow range of price increases.

Recently, there has been a narrow rebound in styrene. In terms of raw material pure benzene, downstream procurement is coming to an end at the end of the month, and the pressure on middlemen to ship has increased, resulting in a downward trend in transaction volume and average support for styrene. At present, the production profit of styrene is still acceptable, and the supply remains high due to high production. However, high port inventory limits the rise of styrene. Without significant changes on a macro level, it is expected that the styrene market will experience weak fluctuations in the short term.

On the demand side: In the medium to long term, the downstream factories of ABS have had average loads. The current market is in a period of transition between peak and off peak seasons, and terminal enterprises have not seen any improvement in procurement. The logic is still to maintain the demand for supplementary orders. In mid August, the production schedule of the electrical casing industry further decreased and consumption shrank. Without significant changes on a macro level, the cautious atmosphere in the external market remains unchanged, and the flow rate of goods is slow. Domestic inventory levels remain high and sideways, with continued loose supply and ample room for on-site turnover. Overall, there has been no improvement in the demand side's support for the ABS market.

At the end of August, the domestic ABS market was weakly consolidating. The overall changes in the upstream three materials are not significant, while the production load of the ABS polymerization plant remains flat, and the demand side's off-season level remains unchanged. Analysts from SunSirs believe that the long-term drag on spot prices of ABS due to supply and demand contradictions makes it difficult for the market momentum to improve. It is expected that the ABS market will maintain a weak and stable consolidation trend in the short term.

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