Lead: Approaching the end of the month, demand for hot melt coatings has been rising and adhesive demand has also picked up. Meanwhile, the recovery of C5 petroleum resin supply remains slow, keeping negotiated prices on a steady upward trend.
1. Cracking C5 and piperylene prices rise
During the week, cracking C5 prices in North China rose by 450 yuan/ton to 6,350 yuan/ton, and East China prices also rose by 450 yuan/ton to 6,350 yuan/ton. Northeast China prices were 5,850–6,440 yuan/ton, while South China quotes stood at 6,200–6,350 yuan/ton, with some private producers' prices climbing to 6,850–7,303 yuan/ton. Domestic piperylene prices continued to move higher this period: low-end prices rose by 300 yuan/ton and high-end prices by 500 yuan/ton, bringing ex-factory prices to 7,600–8,800 yuan/ton.
2. C5 petroleum resin supply remains at a low level this week
Cracking C5 output this period was 73,500 tons, up 1,600 tons from the previous week, a week-on-week increase of 2.21%, with a capacity utilization rate of 70.64%. C5 petroleum resin supply this week stood at 9,100 tons, corresponding to an operating rate of 70.12%. Production recovered slowly, down 12.2 percentage points from the 2025 full-year operating rate of 82.3%. The main reasons are the somewhat tight supply of feedstock cracking C5 and piperylene combined with rising prices, which made it difficult to ramp up C5 petroleum resin output and thus kept production at a relatively low level.
In terms of inventory, downstream coatings and adhesive manufacturers built up stockpiles in August as demand increased, resulting in an overall supply shortage. Producers continued to draw down inventories, which remained at essentially their lowest levels of the past two years.
Table 1 C5 petroleum resin production-sales balance
| Data Type | Item | Current Period | Previous Period | Change | Next-Period Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road-marking-paint C5 petroleum resin | Output | 4.8 | 4.9 | -0.1 | ↓ |
| Inventory | 12.8 | 13.9 | -1.1 | ↓ | |
| Consumption | 5.9 | 3.1 | 2.8 | ↑ | |
| Adhesive C5 petroleum resin | Output | 4.3 | 3.5 | 0.8 | ↑ |
| Inventory | 11.9 | 12.4 | -0.5 | ↓ | |
| Total demand | 4.8 | 4.1 | 0.7 | ↑ |
Data source: Chempricehub
From a consumption perspective, demand rose noticeably across the board and remained below safety stock levels, supporting higher C5 petroleum resin prices.
Overall, domestic C5 petroleum resin output has limited room to increase in September. With cracking C5 and piperylene prices still climbing, producers continuing to destock, a reluctance to sell, and downstream demand on the rise, negotiated prices are expected to keep trending steadily upward.
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