The Benzol market fluctuated higher in March 2022. On March 30, the Benzol commodity index was 107.53, the same as yesterday, down 18.44% from the highest point of 131.84 in the cycle (January 28, 2013), and up 252.10% from the lowest point of 30.54 on April 8, 2020. (Note: the period refers to the period from September 1, 2011 to now).

In March 2022, the Benzol market fluctuated and went up. The domestic ex factory price of Benzol was 6533RMB/ton at the beginning of the month and 6749RMB/ton at the end of the month, with a monthly increase of 3.31%.

On March 24, 2022, the listing price of Sinopec benzene was increased by 200RMB/ton and 8600RMB/ton.

Other plants: Jincheng Petrochemical offers 8400RMB/ton, Weilian chemical offers 8503RMB/ton, Xinhai Petrochemical offers 8450RMB/ton, and Hongrun Petrochemical offers 8500RMB/ton.

Crude oil: affected by the uncertainty of geopolitical situation, crude oil showed an overall upward trend this month, and the price fluctuated widely. The United States and its allies discussed sanctions on Russian energy, deepening market concerns about supply risks. As of March 28, Brent rose 11.49 USD / barrel, or 11.38%; WTI rose $10.24/barrel, or 10.7%. On March 30, the price of international crude oil futures rebounded. The settlement price of the main contract of WTI crude oil futures in the United States was US $107.82/barrel, up US $3.58 or 3.4%; The settlement price of the main contract of Brent crude oil futures was US $111.44/barrel, up US $3.73 or 3.5%. Data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that US crude oil inventories fell continuously, indicating that supply is still tight; In addition, the market is worried that Western sanctions against Russia continue to escalate, and the situation in Russia and Ukraine is still difficult to improve in the short term, and the risk of supply interruption remains in the future.

Basically, due to geopolitical factors, crude oil continued to rise as a whole this month. Driven by the rising cost, the price of pure benzene rose by more than 10% in early March. However, crude oil continued to rise, pure benzene and its downstream profit space were compressed, some units stopped to reduce the burden, and the demand for pure benzene was weak. Superimposed on the impact of domestic public health events, the transportation in many places is limited, the inventory of enterprises in some regions is accumulated, and the price drops rapidly from a high level. Late this month, in the face of market concerns about the increased risk of oil supply, crude oil prices rose again, and pure benzene rebounded with crude oil. However, weak demand and blocked transportation limited the increase. This month was greatly affected by the disturbance of crude oil. At the beginning of the month, the strong rise of crude oil price led to the rise of industrial chain price. After the beginning of the month, with the decline of crude oil price and the correction of Benzol price, the Benzol price fell again near the end of the month. At present, some downstream hydrobenzene enterprises have entered the maintenance period, and the demand for Benzol has declined slightly. Near the end of the month, the bidding price of Benzol in Shandong is 6940 ~ 6945RMB/ton.

In terms of commencement: the overall commencement of coking enterprises this month is still low. At the beginning of this month, due to the influence of environmental protection and heating season, the production was routinely limited. At the end of the month, affected by poor transportation, coke shipment was blocked, some coke enterprises passively limited production, and the output decreased slightly.

If crude oil continues to rise, the operating load of pure benzene may continue to decline under higher cost pressure. The supply and demand of main downstream styrene is still weak, which restricts the price of pure benzene. Overall, the trend of pure benzene in April mainly followed the trend of crude oil. In terms of supply and demand, at present, the operation of coking enterprises is slightly low. With the introduction of policies, the transportation problem may be alleviated to a certain extent. At that time, the operation of coking enterprises will be improved to a certain extent, and the downstream demand is generally stable. It is expected that the price of Benzol will still follow the trend of pure benzene. The future market will focus on the impact of international crude oil situation, external disk, pure benzene and downstream device dynamics, demand side changes and other changes on the price of pure benzene.

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