The Chinese ABS market had steady operating rates at about xxx through the first half of June, while week-on-week production remained flat at about xxx,xxx tons. In spite of thinning inventory digestion, polymerization plant inventory piles continued to be high, a sign of an ongoing oversupply. The imminent startup of Daqing Petrochemical&#xx;s new ABS unit and the return to operation of several idle lines only served to fuel market anxiety by confirming the loose long-term supply structure. As such, ABS spot prices received little support from the production side, with pressure on sellers to cut prices to clear inventories.
On the upstream front, raw material trends were mixed. Acrylonitrile prices declined due to subdued purchasing interest. Butadiene, which had experienced short-term price rallies in late May on tight supply, started falling again in the face of receding downstream demand, poor synthetic rubber demand, and...
