The Chinese acrylic acid market is still upbeat, with surprise interruptions in supply, and pre-holiday inventory building up ahead of time. Although short-term volatility is bound to happen as demand stabilizes, tight availability fundamentals and strong upstream support continue to favor optimism. The sentiment of the acrylic acid market is bullish, with near-term stability expected.
The Chinese acrylic acid market remained bullish due to the convergence of supply-side bottlenecks and healthy pre-holiday demand. During the week ending September 26, the market for acrylic acid observed its trend, gaining 2.5%. Industry dynamics reveal that the rally is founded largely on marginal adjustments in demand and supply, accompanied by firm cost support from feedstock propylene.
Emergency maintenance at key production plants, including CNOOC's acrylic acid oxidation plant, has cut spot supply significantly, especially in key areas such as Shandong. The disruption has restricted high-grade acrylic acid supply, allowing suppliers to create more negotiating leverage. Meanwhile, a stable overseas stream has redirected some domestic output to overseas markets, alleviating local selling pressure. These complementary factors have all contributed to making a tighter supply situation, which has underpinned the market psychology and solidified buyers' confidence in sellers. The combination of limited availability and ongoing external demand has created good conditions for price stability and a consistent bullishness for the acrylic acid market.
Being the onset of a festivity season, these downstream producers have aggressively accumulated inventory levels for uninterrupted production. The intentional build-up of acrylic acid in the market over the short term has created upward pressure for demand. Under the purchase interest, overall market sentiment is supported, which strengthens the upward trend. On the other hand, buying interest may decline with inventory buildup peaking and now beginning to slow down. Such a phase would moderate the purchasing momentum, thereby allowing the market to consolidate, even if only for some time. While the demand spike has at least worked initially, the market is apt to snap towards a more stabilized and equate one.
Propylene, which is the main feedstock to acrylic acid, has remained in a tight supply-demand balance. Its steady trend at high levels has given good cost support, underpinning the bullishness in the acrylic acid market. This upstream strength has allowed producers to underpin firmer market positions and maintain momentum.
Although today's market remains robust, downstream buyers are facing cost pressures and will be willing to adopt a defensive procurement strategy—buying on dips and not following through the rally. Such a move may suppress further uptrend, but inherent factors indicate resilience on a sustained basis.
