The price of formaldehyde hit a new low of six months

Since November, the formaldehyde market has fluctuated downward. The price fell from the beginning of the month to nearly 1,600 yuan (ton price, the same below) to 1450 yuan at the end of the month, a decline of more than 9%. In December, the market continued to fall. On December 4, the daily decline was as high as 6.4%, falling to 1,380 yuan, a low of half a year. Recently, the market is still weak.

 

Raw material prices plummeted

 

“The recent decline in formaldehyde prices is mainly due to the sharp drop in the raw material methanol market,” said Qing Wei, director of the marketing department of Guangxi Mingyi Chemical Co., Ltd.

 

After the end of October, due to the expected slowdown in international economic growth and the new high output of US crude oil, international oil prices plummeted, with a drop of 21% in November alone.

 

Due to the high correlation between the methanol market and oil prices, the price of methanol futures has also plunged, from 3,400 yuan to 2,300 yuan last week, with a cumulative drop of 34%.

 

Affected by the downside of the futures, the spot price of methanol has also fallen sharply. Among them, the price of Hebei market fell from 3150~3230 yuan to 2300~2350 yuan, a drop of 850~880 yuan; the price of Shanxi market fell from 2900~3160 yuan to 2150~2270 yuan, a drop of 750~890 yuan; the price of South China port from the tank 3330~3330 yuan fell to 2430~2450 yuan, a drop of 880~900 yuan; southwestern region has more methanol production capacity, tight natural gas supply, and the company's operating rate is insufficient, but the price has dropped by about 800 yuan.

 

"The price of methanol is so low, and it is rare in history. The main production cost of formaldehyde comes from methanol, and it is inevitable to follow the decline." Qing Wei said.

 

Downstream demand is flat

 

After the price of formaldehyde fell, the downstream also followed the decline. Recently, the price of methylal decreased by 250~350 yuan to 3350~3450 yuan; paraformaldehyde fell 500 yuan to 4800 yuan; pentaerythritol fell 300 yuan to 12,000 yuan; urotropine fell 1100 yuan to 7300 yuan. Downstream manufacturers are flat, and the demand for formaldehyde is relatively general.

 

According to Xiao Wenxiang, manager of Hunan Haibo Chemical, the wood-based panel is a downstream industry with a large amount of formaldehyde. However, straw boards made from straws such as straw, straw, sorghum stalks and corn stalks are now emerging, which have impacted traditional wood-based panels. Wood-based wood-based panels, mostly urea-formaldehyde resin, phenolic resin as adhesive, consume about 60 kilograms of formaldehyde per 1 cubic meter of sheet; for straw board, traditional urea-formaldehyde resin is used because there are many materials on the surface of straw that are not conducive to gluing. Or phenolic resin glue is difficult to obtain satisfactory bonding strength, and MDI adhesive is currently used more.

 

Compared with traditional plates, the zero-formaldehyde ecological board made of straw is more robust, tougher and more resistant to water than environmental protection. "In the future, it is expected that there will be more straw boards to replace the wood panels, which means that the demand for formaldehyde in the wood-based panel industry will decline." Xiao Wenxiang said.

 

Operating rate has risen

 

From the perspective of the start-up of enterprises, the profit of formaldehyde production has increased due to the higher price drop of methanol than formaldehyde, and the production enthusiasm of enterprises is still high. According to Baichuan Information Monitoring, the national formaldehyde operating rate was 49.1% in early December, up 2.1% from the end of November. Among them, the operating rate in North China is 46.6%, the operating rate in East China is 68.3%, the operating rate in Central China is 51%, the operating rate in Northeast China is 78.3%, the operating rate in Northwest China is 55.6%, the operating rate in Southwest China is 37.4%, and the operating rate in South China is 40.5%.

 

For the formaldehyde market, Qing Wei believes that the short-term bottom has been basically proved. From the perspective of raw methanol, after a sharp decline in the previous period, the negative momentum has begun to weaken. However, the downstream industry is subject to environmental restrictions, the operating rate remains low, and the rate of consumption of formaldehyde is slow. The shipment of formaldehyde manufacturers is slightly sluggish. It is difficult to improve the market demand in a short period of time, and the price is unlikely to rise sharply.