Last week, the domestic methanol market strengthened. Tight natural gas supplies in the main Middle Eastern markets led to the shutdown of multiple methanol plants, resulting in expectations of a reduction in methanol imports.
Despite a slight weakening in the raw material benzene market, the acetone market remains resilient due to the temporary shutdown of the phenol-acetone plant in Yangzhou and end-of-month inventory replenishment activities. Consequently, inventories in East China have also declined significantly.
Domestic benzene prices remain high and resilient, with stable import arrivals leading to a continuous rise in port inventories.
This week, crude oil prices exhibited wide fluctuations with both increases and decreases observed. As the end of the month approached for toluene and xylene deliveries in the eastern China region, the overall market atmosphere was relatively vibrant.
Recently, the price of ethyl acetate surged due to the temporary shutdown of major factory units, leading to upward adjustments in prices by factories in other regions. Factories in central China have resumed operations, but there is a certain degree of waiting time for scheduling and loading. With the recent resumption of operations at major factories in Shandong, prices have begun to decline, and there are expectations of increased production capacity. It is predicted that prices will weaken further at the beginning of this week on this basis.
Recently, crude oil and pure benzene have shown a slightly stronger overall performance, providing a certain degree of underlying support for styrene.
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