Since September, the domestic price of industrial-grade acetonitrile has accelerated upward, currently surging past 15,500 yuan/ton. The weekly increase exceeded 2,000 yuan/ton, representing a doubling from the initial rise in mid-August when prices stood at 7,700 yuan/ton. This current level marks the highest price since September 2022. The primary driver behind this sharp rally is a significant expansion in demand for preparation-grade acetonitrile, which itself has been propelled by an explosion in terminal peptide demand since early this year.
In 2026, China’s capacity for GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) experienced explosive growth. As overseas API patents expire and sales of final dosage forms for diabetes management and weight loss continue to climb, rapidly increasing orders have tightened capacity at both CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) and API production stages. Preparation-grade acetonitrile, used as a solvent in API manufacturing, has seen its consumption rise accordingly, recently exhibiting a concentrated surge. Since July, the market has faced shortages of preparation-grade acetonitrile, with tightness intensifying further in late August. Currently, domestic producers of preparation-grade acetonitrile rely not only on integrated synthesis but also on external procurement of industrial-grade material, primarily focusing on by-product acetonitrile. However, supply of by-product acetonitrile lacks effective growth due to losses incurred by its main co-product, acrylonitrile.
Leveraging this peptide-driven surge in preparation-grade demand, the domestic industrial-grade acetonitrile market has exited the overcapacity cycle that persisted since 2022. Starting in 2022, acrylonitrile capacity expanded rapidly, leading to a synchronous increase in by-product acetonitrile output. Concurrently, new capacity for synthesized acetonitrile continued to enter the market. Although signs of growing demand for high-purity acetonitrile were emerging, they had not yet fully materialized. Consequently, supply growth significantly outpaced demand, resulting in industry-wide oversupply. Prices subsequently fell from above 20,000 yuan/ton in early 2022 to below 10,000 yuan/ton, eventually hitting a low of 6,000 yuan/ton in December 2025.
The intense demand-side momentum driving this round of price increases is expected to persist through the fourth quarter, fundamentally shifting the industry’s supply-demand balance from oversupply to shortage. In the long term, the pace of capacity expansion in the acrylonitrile sector is slowing. Apart from Sinopec Tianjin’s planned 130,000-ton capacity addition in September and Zhejiang Petrochemical’s 660,000-ton unit in December, the period from 2027 to 2028 may represent a gap in new additions. Furthermore, given that the acrylonitrile industry remains in an overcapacity phase, overall utilization rates have remained low. Moving forward, expansion of synthesized acetonitrile capacity will be the key factor alleviating supply tightness. A total of 70,000 tons of new capacity—including Nantong Liyang’s 30,000 tons, Fushun Shunneng’s 10,000 tons, Changyu Tianyu’s 10,000 tons, and Henan Longyu’s 20,000 tons—is scheduled to come online between Q4 2026 and 2027, which should gradually ease the supply constraint.
In the short term, while demand for preparation-grade acetonitrile remains robust, traditional consumption in pesticide and pharmaceutical sectors maintains rigid demand levels but shows resistance to the recent sharp price hikes in industrial-grade acetonitrile. Additionally, the volume of recovered acetonitrile from peptide processes is gradually increasing, posing potential pressure on the industrial-grade market. This divergence in demand sources will likely impose constraints on pricing. While the overall price level is expected to remain elevated, the sustained rate of increase and peak prices may face gradual suppression.
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