Plunging Downstream Demand Pulls Down Chinese Methyl Methacrylate

Qingdao, China: The Methyl Methacrylate MMA market witnessed a downward trend in the previous week of May, backed by the lessened demand from the downstream sectors. The plummeting downstream demand has impacted Methyl Methacrylate prices in China. Moreover, the pandemic condition in specific areas, transport disruption, and upstream price fluctuations squeezed the Methyl Methacrylate prices.

In addition, Methyl Methacrylate (MMA)is most widely used in the fabrication of Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA). The low raw material cost, notably, Methanol and Methacrylic acid due to the volatility in the upstream crude values.

Furthermore, the price decline was attributed to the weakening demand for Poly Methyl Methacrylate in the Chinese market.  As a result of the constrained orders and increased market pessimism, stockholders were forced to reduce their profit margins.

However, rising COVID cases in specific parts of East China resulted in market closure, halting sales, and ushering in a drop in Methyl Methacrylate prices. The high inventory levels and reduced consumption from the downstream consumer side have led to stockpiling of the products. Hence, the weak buying sentiments in the domestic market prompted the dip in Methyl Methacrylate prices. Therefore, as per the recent insight, the prices of Methyl Methacrylate were declined by 2% in the preceding week.

On the other side, the supply chains were disrupted by the transportation limitations in the impacted areas; nevertheless, because the traders' attitude was not strong, the interruption in trading did not cause the price to rise. Moreover, one of the traders in Beijing stated that the traders were locked in the perception that the purchasers who bought up the products were in a precarious situation due to the price and demand reduction.

As per the ChemAnalyst, "Methyl Methacrylate prices are anticipated to increase in the forthcoming weeks due to the further improvement in the demand from the downstream PMMA sectors. In the meantime, high raw material cost also impacts the MMA prices in the Chinese market".