Will the Slowdown Affect the Price Movement of Soda Ash Globally?
- 01-Nov-2022 5:11 PM
- Journalist: Gabreilla Figueroa
The Soda Ash market maintained an increasing trend in October 2022. The upward price momentum of the commodity resulted from high upstream energy values and hampered production activities amidst high input costs pressure in the regional market. Moreover, the limited availability of stocks and increasing costs were the primary concerns of the downstream traders.
In Europe, the Soda Ash market players struggled with higher upstream energy and raw material in October 2022. German chemical manufacturers such as BASF faced deteriorated stock availability for the product with various production cuts in the chemical units. Meanwhile, the Soda Ash demand in the Glass production industries was consistent during October 2022. As per the latest insights, in the primary chemical area of North Rhine Westphalia, nearly 30% of chemical companies have cut back production due to supply bottlenecks and muted downstream production activities.
USA weekly Soda Ash prices experienced stability due to the steadiness in the offers from the glass manufacturing industry at the end of October 2022. The Soda Ash demand from the automotive sector was muted in October due to the potential Recession, which lowered consumer confidence in the US market. Nevertheless, Soda Ash traders remained cautious about the amount of supply increase as production capacity started to increase in the second half of October.
ChemAnalyst predicted that Soda Ash prices are expected to elevate due to an anticipated increase in demand and a European energy price hike. Moreover, high inflation may result in a production cut in the region, impacting the pricing dynamics of the product in Europe. All European energy-based industries, such as glass, chemical, etc., are expected to cut costs, hoping for some relief from the high gas prices.
Meanwhile, in the upcoming month, USA Soda Ash prices may continue to increase due to the expected increase in domestic offers with improvement in production activities.
