Soaring Crude Price leads to a sharp increase in Paraffin Wax prices across China

China's beleaguered economy continues to grapple with stagflationary pressures from Russia as it continues its military onslaught on Ukraine. Along with their allies, the western economies have taken retaliatory steps in the form of heavy sanctions whose impact can be seen on the Russian economy, which has resulted in the soaring Crude Oil prices globally. Skyrocketing oil prices triggered by the sanctions on Russia's energy supplies will likely exacerbate China's already-challenging economic stimulus in the forthcoming period.

China, the world's largest oil importer, moves forward with a 5.5% growth target in 2022, which seems quite gloomy, considering the ongoing war situation as it is currently struggling with low export demand and consumer spending power. Beijing has cut ties of its large energy supplies with Russia to stabilize the slowing economy. However, the Chinese businesses are battling low-profit margins as the oil prices are now 40% higher than they were two weeks ago.

As per ChemAnalyst, “on the back of the shooting Crude Oil prices, the prices of Paraffin wax are consistently rising in the Chinese domestic market. As China's Paraffin industry is a market structure for monopoly competition, most of the manufacturing of the Paraffin wax is done by PetroChina and Sinopec due to the availability of Daqing crude oil and Shenbei oilfields.”

Being the net importer of energy and accounting for more than 40% of global exports, Asia has become vulnerable due to the oil price rise, and any sustained price hike will create hurdles across the globe. According to an industry expert, "Most are huge energy importers, so soaring gas and crude costs will weigh economic growth." He further added, "But the inflation impact is also substantial, even if the precise impact on individual markets varies. A delicate balancing act for central banks."