This week, price increases for industrial-grade acetonitrile in the domestic market accelerated. In the weekly auction, Zhejiang Petrochemical (ZPC) transacted at 8,700 yuan/mt, up 700 yuan/mt from last week, a gain of 8.75%. Prices in the Shandong market were also gradually pushed up to around 9,000 yuan/mt. The factors driving this round of acetonitrile gains were, on the one hand, persistently limited supply—especially as by-product producers have operated at below 70% capacity for an extended period. On the other hand, overall demand has also improved: downstream peptide consumption has maintained steady growth, preparative-grade acetonitrile remains in tight supply, and export order volumes have increased as well.
Looking at the supply side in detail, by-product producers maintained operating loads of 60–70% in August. Major plants in East China, including Sierbang, Zhejiang Petrochemical, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical, and Shanghai SECCO, all continued to run at low rates. Plants in the Shandong region also experienced short-term outages for maintenance, keeping inventories at by-product producers persistently low. In addition, typhoon-related transportation disruptions in East China in August intermittently exacerbated the tight supply situation for by-product product.
Although synthetic-route producers operated at relatively high overall rates, the main demand growth this year has been concentrated in the preparative-grade acetonitrile segment driven by peptide consumption. Since major preparative-grade acetonitrile producers primarily purchase by-product acetonitrile as feedstock, the shortage in preparative-grade supply has in turn pushed up by-product industrial-grade acetonitrile prices. A comparison of weekly by-product output and acetonitrile price trends shows a clear negative correlation, indicating that changes in by-product acetonitrile supply remain the dominant factor steering overall market price movements.
In addition to robust consumption growth in the high-purity segment, export orders for industrial-grade acetonitrile have also been growing gradually since early August. On the one hand, overseas supply remains generally tight, as acrylonitrile—the upstream unit for by-product acetonitrile—is operating at low rates. On the other hand, overseas demand in pharmaceutical and biotech sectors such as peptides is also growing. Several domestic acetonitrile producers have indicated that export order fulfillment will account for a relatively high share in the coming period, and domestic sales volumes are being scaled back correspondingly.
Looking further out, by-product acetonitrile supply is expected to recover around mid-September, as acrylonitrile units at Sierbang, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical, Zhejiang Petrochemical, and Liaoning Jinf are all scheduled to restart gradually in early September. Before by-product supply increases materially, acetonitrile prices are likely to keep trending upward. Additionally, with pre-holiday stocking expectations for the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, the market is expected to remain firm in September. During this period, however, attention should still be paid to buying follow-through in traditional downstream segments such as agrochemicals, and to the potential negative feedback if prices rally too sharply and too quickly, which could trigger periodic buyer resistance.
Comments
0