Price trend

Domestic propylene oxide prices rose slightly after the holiday. According to the SunSirs monitoring system, as of October 10, the SunSirs propylene oxide benchmark price was 7,866.67 RMB/ton, up 1.29% from October 1.

Factors affecting price:

Raw material prices for propylene showed a downward trend before and after the National Day and Holiday holidays. Initially, the restart of PDH units at Zhenhua and Jinneng increased supply, putting downward pressure on propylene prices. Subsequently, the shutdowns at Hebei Haiwei and Lihua Yiweiyuan triggered a supply squeeze, pushing prices back up. After the holiday, planned plant maintenance and downstream sourcing demand supported a continued upward trend in prices. As of October 10th, the benchmark price for propylene on SunSirs was 6,588.25 RMB/ton, up 0.69% from 6,543.25 RMB/ton at the beginning of the month. This upward trend in propylene prices provided some support to the propylene oxide market.

Supply: Propylene oxide supply had tightened after the holiday. Lihua Yiweiyuan's suspension of sales, coupled with maintenance at its main Shandong plant, had reduced spot supply. Low inventories at manufacturers were driving up propylene oxide prices. It needs to monitor the recovery from maintenance at major manufacturers, as well as Qixiangda's inventory reduction and the ramp-up of Wanhua's Phase IV new production capacity. Propylene oxide prices are expected to rise in the near term.

Demand: Post-holiday, downstream polyether manufacturers mostly maintained purchases based on rigid demand, with a strong wait-and-see attitude. Load adjustments on the polyether side were limited, while propylene glycol manufacturers were increasing their loads, resulting in a generally flat demand side.

Market outlook

Propylene oxide analysts of SunSirs believe the rebound in propylene oxide prices was primarily due to the suspension of sales at Lihua Yiweiyuan and tighter supply caused by maintenance at its main Shandong plant. Raw material prices also provided some support, but downstream polyether purchases were primarily driven by rigid demand, leading to a wait-and-see attitude. It is expected that the propylene oxide market will be more likely to rise than to fall in the later period, and more attention should be paid to raw material prices and changes in market supply and demand.

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