Phthalic Anhydride Prices Inch Up in China Amid Rising Feedstock Costs and Steady Output

Key Highlights:

• Feedstock costs rebounded which supported the upward momentum.
• Operating rates hovered around xxx in August xxxx.
• Downstream plasticizer demand continued to be weak.
• Cost driven price support is expected to continue.

The costs of Phthalic Anhydride have been trending slightly up since the second week of the September xxxx. One of the most important reasons behind the recovery was the improvement of ortho-xylene (OX) values, which had declined before but started to recover from the beginning of September. Prices of industrial naphthalene, another important feedstock, were normal during the whole period, thus offering a rather mixed but overall supportive cost environment for phthalic anhydride producers.

Most of the production sites in China kept their operating efficiency at or near the xxx mark. Thus, the supply of phthalic anhydride to the domestic market remained at the usual level and there...