China Methanol Price May Fall

March 7, 2018

In 2018, China methanol price underwent sharp fluctuations.

In mid-April, methanol market was in lack of tradable goods amid centralized imported resources at ports. Following this, from April 13th to April 19th the price of methanol rose by CNY 50/mt to CNY 3,250/mt. Besides, methanol price in some areas, including Guanzhong, Henan, Shandong and Anhui, surged to CNY 3,000/mt pushed by higher methanol price at the port.

Approaching the end of April, the price of spot goods at the port declined amid centralized arrival of imported shiploads. From April 20thto April 21st, methanol price declined by CNY 250/mt to CNY 3,000/mt.

Following this, the price of methanol in many production areas also declined.

In this week ended on April 30th, methanol price in some areas may decline, though downstream plants are restocking before the Labor’s Day. Heading to May, the whole methanol market will suffer oversupply, as 4 sets of MTO units will take maintenance(including the 200,000mt/yr units at Shandong Yangmei Hengtong Chemical, the 800,000mt/yr units at Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical, the 300,000mt/yr units at Nanjing Chengzhi Clean Energy and 600,000mt/yr units at Zhejiang Ningbo Petrochemical ), the previously-shut-down units restart(including Gansu Huating Coal and Electricity, Inner Mongolia Zhong coal far Hing Energy Chemical and Sinopec the Great Wall Energy) and downstream plants reduce run rates amid rainy season. Market anticipates need to pay attention to the actual arbitrage status between mainland and port.