For the quarter Ending June 2021
North America
The demand for Sodium Propionate remained consistent throughout the quarter across North America region. The demand from the domestic preservatives segment remained stable in USA during this quarter, while prices kept fluctuating in the meantime. However, prices of feedstock Propionic acid also increased week over week due to high demand and inadequate availability in USA. In addition, several major manufacturers of the country rose their product prices, expecting a rise in prices of feedstock Propionic Acid.
Asia
Prices of Propionic Acid fluctuated effectively during this quarter in Asian market, while most of the countries reported an overall decline in price of the product. Demand for Sodium Propionate remained stable to firm in China during this timeframe, where the prices remained volatile. Meanwhile in India, prices kept on declining in all three months of Q2, due to infirm demand from the domestic market. In June, unlike other chemicals, demand for Sodium Propionate never improved despite of decline in COVID cases in India. Therefore, after a continuous decline in price of Sodium Propionate, they were accessed at USD 1860/MT during the month of June in India.
Europe
Demand for Sodium Propionate remained dull in European region, due to infirm offtakes from the domestic market. However, abundant availability of Sodium Propionate across the region also impacted the overall price trajectory of the product during this timeframe. In addition, demand from the preservative sectors also remained in a narrow range due to availability of other cheaper alternatives. Therefore, despite of several price fluctuations, prices of Sodium Propionate slipped effectively during this timeframe.
For the Quarter Ending March 2021
North America
Demand for Sodium Propionate remained substantially firm during Q1 2021. Freakish winter storm Uri in Texas increased the demand for well preserved packaged food, as uncertainties were hovering around several businesses. The region reported increased demand for several food preservatives including Sodium Propionate during February. However, despite of its high demand, the price maintained stability under ample availability in the region. In addition, other than food preservative segment, demand from carbonated drinks also remained stable across other areas of North America.
Asia Pacific
The Asian market encountered fair demand for Sodium Propionate, from the food preservative segment. As the Indian market is still a growing market for preservatives and highly volatile in nature, that’s why the demand readily reduced during this quarter as compared to prior quarter. The demand was increased during peak of COVID 19 cases, as the manufacturers had to ensure longer shelf life of their products. The price of Sodium Propionate hovered around USD 1905/MT during February in the Indian market. In the Chinese markets, production remained high as the demand from international market was consistent, and the production activity remained strong to satisfy the demand.
Europe
The European market was struggling with second wave of COVID 19 during this quarter, that increased the demand for several food preservatives across the region. However, as Sodium Propionate has limited use in the region, the demand for this specific preservative remained modest and varied country over country. Thereby, the gap between demand and availability was narrow during this timeframe and didn’t much affect the prices of Sodium Propionate across the region.
For the Quarter Ending December 2020
Asia
In Asia Pacific region, demand for preservatives increased during final quarter of 2020, due to pickup in demand during the festive season in November. This significant rise in demand led to slight increment in the price of Sodium Propionate i.e., from 2053.5 USD per tonne in October to 2093.1 USD per tonne till December 2020. However, due to ample supply the prices didn’t rise by a big number. Although prices of feedstock tumbled in the December 2020 due to low demand, but it didn’t adhere a significant impact upon the prices of Sodium Propionate across APAC region.
North America
Demand for Sodium Propionate in the food preservatives sector remained firm during Q4 2020 in North America backed by its increased demand amidst holidays and festivals like Christmas, Halloween, thanksgiving etc. However, the supply remained tight initially during October, due to shortage of feedstocks supply due to disturbed functioning of several plants following the spate of hurricanes. Consequently, prices of Sodium Propionate during November 2020 settled at USD 2217 per tonne in Canada. In addition, marginal rise in feedstock Propionic Acid prices were observed in some north American countries like Mexico which later came down again in December.
Europe
Europe was hard hit by the new wave of Coronavirus that led to a major disruption in the market activities in Q4 2020, considerably affecting the imports as well as domestic manufacturing of several feedstock chemicals. In addition, hurricanes in the gulf of USA also exacerbated this import shortage of feedstock, causing a major impact upon its prices in some countries like Germany and Spain. However, as the supply gradually resumed by the end of November, its prices also witnessed stability.
