Morning Market Briefing for Xylene

I. Key Points

1. Crude Oil: On October 26, mediators continued to push for US-Iran peace talks, slightly easing market concerns over supply risks and causing international oil prices to fall. The NYMEX WTI December futures contract closed at $101.76/bbl, down $1.51 (-1.46% WoW); the ICE Brent December futures contract closed at $115.81/bbl, down $0.91 (-0.78% WoW). China’s INE crude oil futures (contract 2612) rose by 22.7 yuan to 739.7 yuan/bbl during the day session but fell by 6.4 yuan to 733.3 yuan/bbl in the night session.
2. Xylene: Sinopec East China posted xylene price was 9,150 yuan/ton.
3. Gasoline: Yesterday, the production-to-sales ratio of Shandong local refineries’ gasoline was 73%, up 3 percentage points from the previous period.

Core Logic: Crude oil futures dipped slightly. Yesterday, Shandong local refineries did not balance production with sales; factory auctions saw small premiums, while on-market procurement sentiment remained weak. Meanwhile, the Asian USD-denominated market rose yesterday, supporting a stronger trend in xylene prices.

II. Price Table

III. Market Outlook

Crude oil futures closed with a slight decline, offering limited support to market sentiment. Yesterday, both the gasoline market and Shandong xylene market failed to balance production with sales. Downstream PX futures retreated from high levels, narrowing the MX-PX spread. Downstream customers primarily purchased based on immediate needs. Therefore, domestic xylene prices are expected to trade steadily with a slightly weak bias today.