SunSirs: China Domestic Asphalt Market Stopped Fell and rose in December

According to the monitoring of SunSirs, the domestic asphalt market fell first and then rose in December, which generally rose. From December 1 to 29, the average price of asphalt producers in Shandong Province rose from 3,573 RMB/ton to 3,691 RMB/ton, up 3.28%, and the price rose 17.28% year on year.

At the beginning of the month, the domestic asphalt market declined significantly, mainly due to the demand side. The weather gradually turned cold, and pavement construction was limited in some areas, so the demand for asphalt was weakened. Specifically, on the macro level, the international crude oil price fluctuated and fell in the same period, causing the spread of negative sentiment throughout the industry chain. Although there are signs of recovery recently, it has little impact on the current asphalt market. In the first ten days of this month, the asphalt price continued to decline, mainly due to the demand side. Affected by weather factors, downstream terminal demand continues to be sluggish. In the middle of this month, the price of asphalt market stopped falling and rising, mainly due to the rebound of crude oil price, the implementation of asphalt winter storage policy, the emergence of bottom price, and the release of some expediting and stock demand, which led to the price rise. In the last ten days of this month, the price of asphalt market continued to rise in a narrow range, mainly due to the rise of crude oil, the strengthening of cost support, and the obvious destocking of some refineries, which led to the tight spot resources, driving the price up.

In terms of cost, on December 29, the benchmark price of WTI crude oil of SunSirs was 79.53 dollars/ton, down -1.27% compared with December 1 (80.55 dollars/ton). Since December, oil prices have continued to fall, recording a decline in six trading days. WTI and Brent crude oil both fell by about 10 dollars/ton. The results of the OPEC meeting of oil producing countries were released at the beginning of this month, which failed to further reduce production; As well as the EU's oil price limit policy for Russian seaborne oil has been implemented, but in the short term, it is virtually non-existent. The oil price fell to the annual low against the background of demand depression at the far end. It has completely returned to the level before the Russian Ukrainian conflict. The domestic oil industry chain MTBE product market was affected by the market shock and fell.

In terms of supply, the decrease in supply is mainly due to the reduction of production in some places in North China and the intermittent shutdown of asphalt production by Yunnan Petrochemical in Southwest China.

On the demand side, there is a demand for centralized goods preparation in northwest and south China, while refineries in other regions mainly implement contracts.

It is predicted that the rise of international crude oil will support the sentiment of asphalt market to some extent. Influenced by a new round of cold air factors, the temperature drop in the northern region is obvious, and the demand has slowed down. At present, most of the demand is small purchase and warehousing, while the southern region still has a certain demand for acceleration. SunSirs asphalt analysts predict that the domestic asphalt market may rise in a narrow range in the short term.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact SunSirs with support@sunsirs.com.