Carbon black market continues to rise

Recently, under the support of factors such as rising raw materials, tight supply, and rising downstream, the domestic carbon black market has continued to rise
.
As of May 10, the mainstream price of carbon black N220 in East China was 10,800 yuan (ton price, the same below), an increase of 800 yuan or 8% from the end of March
.
"It is expected that the short-term carbon black market will continue to rise
.
" Ma Haiying, a carbon black analyst at Zhongyu Information, made the above judgment
.

Raw materials fluctuate upwards

Under the normalization of production restrictions by coke enterprises and the difficulty in alleviating the shortage of raw coal tar supply, the cost-supported carbon black market has continued to fluctuate at a high level since April
.

After the "May 1st" holiday, the high-temperature coal tar market rose sharply in some places.
Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places, as well as some steel mills that set prices at the beginning of the month, made a substantial increase, while the mainstream in other regions maintained stability
.
Most coke enterprises executed pre-holiday contracts, some coke enterprises re-priced their auctions, and Shanxi auction prices continued to soar
.
At present, the mainstream transaction price of high-temperature coal tar in Shandong is 5,350 yuan, and some auction prices in Shanxi have risen to 5,660 yuan, the highest in the past five years
.

"Recently, the downstream deep-processing product market of high-temperature coal tar has shown an upward trend.
In particular, the price of the main product coal tar tar has continued to rise, and the market of industrial naphthalene and anthracene oil has also increased by different degrees
.
The overall downstream construction is relatively stable, and there will be some supplements after the holiday.
Due to the warehouse behavior, the demand for coal tar is difficult to reduce, and the price is expected to remain at a high level, which is expected to continue to bring cost support to the carbon black market
.
" Longzhong Information Coal tar analyst Liu Mingjia analyzed
.

Reduced market supply

Affected by the epidemic, transportation is not smooth in most parts of the country, the arrival time of raw materials is prolonged, and the logistics freight is rising, which makes the production pressure of carbon black enterprises continue to increase, and most carbon black enterprises are restricted from starting work
.
In addition, some carbon black enterprises stopped production and maintenance before and after the "May 1st" holiday, which dragged down the operating rate of the carbon black industry and the overall inventory was low
.

In addition to falling domestic production, carbon black imports are also falling
.
According to statistics from Zhongyu Information, in March, China's total carbon black imports were 9,180.
6 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 3.
7%
.
The situation in Russia and Ukraine continues to be tense, which affects the spot supply terminals of some carbon black factories in Russia and Belarus to a certain extent, while the flow of low-cost carbon black into China decreases
.

In terms of exports, China is one of the major exporters of carbon black in the world
.
In March, China's export volume of carbon black was 55,700 tons, a month-on-month increase of 46.
3%
.
"Under the tension between Russia and Ukraine, many Western countries have sanctioned Russia, which has caused a large shortage of carbon black supply in Europe.
Many foreign downstream companies choose to import carbon black from China, which has led to an increase in China's carbon black exports, which in turn pushed the domestic market higher
.
" Wang Double analysis said
.

Downstream price support

Tires are the largest application area of ​​carbon black, accounting for about 2/3 of the total consumption of carbon black
.
Recently, the inventory of finished products of tire sample companies has shown a downward trend, and the operating rate is expected to increase, which may lead to an increase in carbon black demand
.

As of May 5, the average inventory turnover days of Shandong semi-steel tire sample enterprises was 42.
98 days, a decrease of 0.
55 days from the previous week; the average inventory turnover days of all-steel tire sample enterprises was 43.
44 days, a decrease of 1.
25 days from the previous week
.

"Among the sample companies, all-steel tire companies had a slight increase in the sentiment of agent replenishment during the cycle due to the expectation of price increases, which drove the overall inventory level of the sample companies lower than the previous week
.
In addition, the tire companies that arranged maintenance during the 'May 1' holiday have already With the resumption of work one after another, it is expected that the operating rate of tire sample companies will increase significantly from the previous month
.
" said Zhu Zhiwei, tire analyst at Longzhong Information
.

After the "May Day" holiday, many tire companies issued price increase notices
.
Shandong Yongsheng Rubber Group Co.
, Ltd.
announced that starting from May 5, the sales price of all steel series products will be increased by 3%; starting from May 15, the price of various passenger car tire brands will be increased by 2% to 3%
.
Dongying Fangxing Rubber Co.
, Ltd.
announced that starting from May 10, the sales price of all steel series products will be increased by 3%
.
Shandong Shenghai Rubber Co.
, Ltd.
decided to increase the price of some brands of all-steel radial tires by 2% to 3% from May 10
.
As of May 7, more than a dozen tire companies have announced price increases in May
.
The price rise of downstream tire companies will also support the carbon black market
.