I. Key Focus Areas

1. Crude Oil: On October 12, Houthi rebels continued attacks on Saudi Arabia, with instability in the Middle East escalating supply risks and pushing international oil prices higher. NYMEX WTI crude futures (November contract) closed at $93.74/bbl, up $1.89/bbl (+2.06% WoW). ICE Brent crude futures (December contract) closed at $106.65/bbl, up $1.93/bbl (+1.84% WoW). Shanghai INE crude oil futures (December 2026 contract) fell by 8.9 to CNY 709.5/bbl during the day session, but rose by 24.7 to CNY 734.2/bbl in the night session.
2. Paraxylene: Sinopec East China listed price for paraxylene is CNY 9,150/ton.
3. Gasoline: Yesterday’s production-to-sales ratio for Shandong local refineries was 79%, up 6 percentage points from the previous period.

Core Logic: Crude oil futures maintained their upward trend. However, yesterday’s gasoline sales did not balance with production, and plant auctions did not achieve premium pricing, leading to a slowdown in market purchasing sentiment. While the Asian USD-denominated market rose yesterday, paraxylene prices declined.

II. Price Table

III. Market Outlook

Crude oil futures closed with sustained gains, providing limited support to market sentiment. Yesterday, the gasoline market saw an imbalance between production and sales, as did paraxylene in Shandong. Downstream customers replenished stocks based on demand, causing trading pace to slow down. With spot resources relatively tight, domestic paraxylene is expected to trade steadily to slightly stronger today.