Styrene monomer prices has stabilized since mid-February with few low offers heard, despite weak trading sentiment.
DCE SM futures March 2022 contract closed at 9,119 yuan/mt, up 210yuan/mt or 2.36% from the previous settlement. Spot styrene price increased by 150yuan/mt to 9,100yuan/mt in East China and CFR China styrene increased by around $20/mt to $1,260/mt.
Styrene production margins further weakened since February. Due to firm ethylene prices, styrene production loss was quite high. As a result, many non-integrated producers shut down units or reduced operating rate. A few integrated producers also lowered operating rate. The actions of rate cut led to less styrene supply in the market.
In addition, more producers will conduct maintenance in March. ZPC delayed the turnaround of one line to from February to March. Shanghai SECCO and ZRCC-Lyondell will also conduct maintenance in March. China domestic supply will decrease.
Besides the decrease in domestic output, more exports were concluded in the first quarter of 2021, compared with Q1 2020. March arriving cargoes were re-exported. Supply from South Korea and Japan have decreased as well. US styrene exports will also move lower with operations affected by the cold snap. China’s March styrene export is estimated at around 70-80kt.
Downstream demand recovers slowly, but styrene supply decrease and exports increase. Styrene inventory is expected to decrease in March. Coupled with expectation for rising crude oil prices, styrene prices are expected to increase in short term.
Post time: Feb-25-2022