Supply is tight, and carbon black prices continue to rise

This week, the domestic carbon black market continued to experience tight supply. Despite the continued strengthening of new auction prices for high-temperature coal tar raw materials, there have been reports of price increases for new orders on the market. Market feedback shows that a carbon black enterprise in Hongdong, Shanxi has seen an increase in the auction price of new orders this week, with a magnitude of 250 yuan/ton.

In terms of raw material coal tar: Compared with the increase of 200-400 yuan/ton last week, the rise of coal tar this week has significantly narrowed. During this period, new auctions in Anhui region led the way with a price increase of 90 yuan/ton, while other regions performed average. Hebei region only saw a price increase of 20 yuan/ton, and Shandong and Shanxi regions only achieved a slight increase. According to observations from the Carbon Black Industry Network, coal tar deep processing enterprises continue to operate at a loss, and the overall operating load of the industry has slightly declined. Although the cost support for downstream deep processing products is still acceptable, deep processing enterprises continue to raise prices, such as coal tar partially pushing up prices by 50-150 yuan/ton, and industrial naphthalene and anthracene oil actively exploring price increases of 50-100 yuan/ton, downstream factories have a strong wait-and-see attitude, resulting in limited high price trading volume for deep processing products at present. From the future perspective, with many deep processing enterprises resuming production one after another, the industry's operating rate is expected to increase, and the demand for coal tar may increase slightly.

Market supply and demand: From the perspective of market demand, the overall downstream demand for carbon black is relatively stable, and the main market tire industry maintains its previous performance. The overall operating load of semi steel enterprises is relatively high, while the operating load of all steel enterprises is relatively weak. The performance of other rubber products and masterbatch industries is relatively stable.

From the perspective of market supply, the overall operating load of the carbon black industry continues to be weak. In the early stage, mainstream carbon black manufacturers received more orders, and currently, delivery orders are the main focus, with some control over the number of new orders received.

Overall, as the price increase of coal tar narrows, downstream operators of carbon black have reduced their enthusiasm for the continuous price increase of carbon black, and some have even developed a wait-and-see attitude. However, from the perspective of supply and demand, the current inventory of carbon black enterprises is generally low, downstream demand is relatively stable, and new orders from carbon black manufacturers are relatively strong. Market feedback shows that the transaction price of new orders this week continues to rise.