In the Indian market of Isobutyric Acid, prices were fairly stable at the beginning of April but then dropped late in the month. Price fluctuations occurred over the month of April due to soft demand and adequate supply, along with stable production and feedstock prices that prevented a sharper increase in price fluctuation of Isobutyric Acid.

Persistent low demand for Isobutyric Acid continued into the first week of April, where there was soft demand from the downstream manufacturers' mindset of a wait-and-see situation, as they are closely monitoring the weak Asian benchmark prices. Similarly, the food processing sector demand was also subdued. The good news was that wholesale food prices inflation slowed down to 2.05% in March. The bad news was that small increases in manufacturing prices also limited stock purchases in the processing downstream chain. Overall, participants were sitting on the fence at the beginning of the month, maintaining stable contracts, trying not to buy aggressively to let the Isobutyric Acid price catch up.

The second week, there were still no shifts in Isobutyric Acid prices to speak of. The continuous production, supply, and demand conditions allowed for this stability. With adequate domestic availability, the limited consumption levels in India were mainly from the pharmaceutical and flavoring sectors. As mentioned above, the desire to buy was tempered by hesitancy, so no price indications were there. Stable propylene prices, the main feedstock for Isobutyric acid production, and unchanged production costs continued to keep this equilibrium in the market.

The week of April 17 saw the start of a price decrease. Though there were additional minor signs of buying, mostly from pharmaceutical manufacturers buying on the spot, the domestic supply remained heavy compared to consumption. There were also bearish signals from international markets, which created a surplus of Isobutyric Acid. As a result, distributors began to offer discounts to liquidate themselves.

The correction continued into the last week of April, during which there were still mixed feelings among traders. Buyers were concerned about prices continuing to drop and remained apprehensive. Distributors continued to expand their discount range of tactics to put pressure on Isobutyric Acid prices. While there were some signs of re-stocking by some sectors, overall demand failed to meaningfully recover, heading to the end of the month.

As per ChemAnalyst, unless demand picks up again in May or an increase in exports of materials happens, Isobutyric Acid prices will be in a tough spot to get back up again. That said, any shocks to the global supply chain or unexpected increase in propylene prices could stabilize or reverse the prices given the shifting landscape.