How Demand Affected the Asian Liquid Chlorine Price Movement

Shandong, China: Liquid Chlorine prices have shown a bearish trend in the Asian market since May start due to slower demand from the downstream industries such as disinfectant and PVC segment amid the sufficient availability of inventories in the Indian domestic market. Moreover, Liquid Chlorine offers in the Asian market witnessed stability in the pricing trend because of ease in the upstream energy costs in the region.

Majorly the downstream demand influences Liquid Chlorine quotations in the Asian market during the mid-week of May. In China, with gradual relaxation in the number of positive Covid cases and slight relief from the government over lockdown restrictions, the price of Liquid Chlorine was seen to ease up. The primary factors for stability in Liquid Chlorine prices include improvement in the production activity and decent demand from the downstream industries in China. In addition, rerouting shipments from one of the largest container terminals in China, i.e., Shanghai, amid container shortage and disrupted operations conclusively resulted in a bottleneck supply chain for Liquid Chlorine and narrowed the exports originating from the Chinese spot market.

Due to Logistical issues and strong wait-and-see sentiments across the players in the spot market, traders-maintained stability, and delivered goods. According to the analysis conducted by ChemAnalyst, it is expected that the price of Liquid Chlorine in China will be slightly adjusted and operated soon, depending on the demand of the downstream market.

In India, Liquid Chlorine prices for industrial-grade witnessed a drop of nearly 2% in May, backed by the stability in the demand from the downstream PVC and disinfectants due to the surging COVID-19 cases in several cities of India. Traders maintained stable offtakes in the domestic market to attain average profit margins due to disrupted exports and demand from Uganda amid port congestion in East Africa.

As per ChemAnalyst, "Prices of Liquid Chlorine are anticipated to stabilize in Asia due to further stable demand from the end-user disinfectant and PVC segment. Furthermore, production is likely to improve amid relaxation in the COVID 19 cases in the region, including China and India. Meanwhile, Liquid Chlorine cost is expected to be influenced by energy costs amid supply disruption from Russia due to Russia and Ukraine conflict." In addition, the seasonal demand for the building and construction activities is likely to surge, that further supports the Chinese Liquid Chlorine market.