Throughout April, the Diisopropyl Ether (DIPE) prices have remained constant in United States. The feedstock prices barely discern fluctuation, ranging between 0.015% to 0.019% having no noticeable effect on the market.

In April, the overall demand expansion was constrained by ongoing economic uncertainty caused clients to adopt a cautious approach to spend. The challenging trade environment had a pronounced effect on domestic demand, with new orders gradually falling at the sharpest rate since November 2022. Concerns over trade policy also dampened service providers’ confidence, pushing overall business sentiment to its lowest point.

Uncertainty in federal trade policies was cited as a key factor restricting growth and dampening business sentiment. In parallel the tariffs significantly contributed to an upturn in the operational costs by increased supplier prices. In response, service providers raised their own selling prices to meet margin, resulting in the highest inflation rate since January.

For first 3 week of April, the Indian DIPE market delivered stable with minor inclined performance, after the bearish trend witnessed in March. The market declined by 3.96%, but the combination of seasonal demand from the paint and coatings sector and new orders from the pharmaceutical sector helped to increase the prices till the end of the month. While march was sluggishness and stockpiles, the seasonal boost in April attempted to sparks recovery. The first week of the financial year witnessed rise in DIPE prices supported by the paints and coating industries, 4th week brought an uptick of 2.7% in DIPE prices.

Being a major exporter DIPE in Asia, China follows similar trend as of India. With the pharmaceutical sector ramping up production and coatings demand still robust, DIPE consumption is expected to remain steady in the near term. The APAC DIPE market made an attempted to recover but the rate of growth was too low to surpass the march trend.

The German, DIPE market delivered blend performance of steady and decline trend for April. Compared to March minor fluctuations in the feedstock prices were witnessed; no indirect cost pressure was transit to the DIPE. The increased inflation in Europe had made downstream industries to setback, the construction, pharmaceutical, and automotive sectors have concentrated to consume the overstock inventories before making new orders. The off-season activity faced by solvent industries had limit the new order volumes. The European buyers maintained a conservative approach to procurement, opting to cautious buying while suppliers prioritized restocking inventories rather placing new or bulk orders. Such strategical approach has helped Germany to stabilize the upward pressure from raised input cost, preventing the price shift of DIPE.

Market sentiment of German DIPE sector remained neutral, as suppliers maintained steady production to match the subdue demand. Suppliers putting discount to restock inventory with new orders. Overall, the market witness declining price, limited trading activity, and restrained downstream environment influenced by seasonal trends and continued economic uncertainty.