Lead: Although inventories at major East China ports remain low and overall domestic supply continues to be tight, the easing of the Middle East situation has weakened overall commodity sentiment. Additionally, downstream performance has fallen short of expectations, price transmission is not smooth, demand-side support is insufficient, and the market price center has rapidly declined.

This week, domestic diethylene glycol (DEG) prices fluctuated and weakened. Domestic supply continued to shrink, but due to holiday factors, demand performance was poor, leading to a slight accumulation of inventories at major East China ports. The easing of the Middle East situation put pressure on international oil prices to fall, and downstream sectors such as unsaturated resins showed weak purchasing enthusiasm, maintaining low overall operating rates. During the May Day holiday, downstream performance fell short of expectations, overall purchasing enthusiasm was hindered, and DEG prices fluctuated downward. As of May 9, the East China spot market closed at 6,510 yuan/ton.

Recent maintenance schedule for domestic ethylene glycol units
Unit: 10,000 tons/year

| Production Enterprise | Capacity | Start Time | End Time | Maintenance Days This Month | Reason |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Shanghai Petrochemical 1# | 2.3 | Converted to EO | / | / | Economic |
| Sanjiang Chemical 1# | 3.8 | 2025.5.27 | TBD | 30 | Economic |
| Shenghong Refining & Chemical 1# | 8 | 2025.12.4 | End of Q1 2026 | 30 | Planned |
| Satellite Chemical | 7.5 | Converted to PE on Feb 11 | / | 30 | Planned |
| Gulei Petrochemical | 6 | 45-day maintenance started in March | / | 30 | / |
| Zhejiang Petrochemical | 6.5 | 10-day maintenance started on April 21 | / | 9 | Planned |
| Total | 34.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |

Data source: chempricehub Information

In May, Hainan Refining & Chemical still has maintenance plans, and domestic supply is expected to continue shrinking. On the import side, the Middle East situation remains tense, increasing the risk of supply disruptions. Based on expectations of imported arrivals at major ports, pre-arrivals remain low, and inventories at major ports are maintained at low levels.

In the short term, domestic DEG supply remains tight, imports remain at low levels, and it will be difficult to ease this situation in the near term. Inventory at major East China ports remains low. After the May Day holiday, the operating rate of the downstream unsaturated resin industry is expected to increase, so demand-side support remains. Recently, market prices have fallen rapidly, downstream purchasing sentiment has recovered somewhat at lower prices, and there are many external unstable factors. The room for further market decline is limited, and the East China DEG market is expected to stabilize and rebound.