What are the main price and supply drivers for DCP in China?

What are the main price and supply drivers for DCP in China?
DCP pricing in China is driven less by its own demand story than by the octanol and phthalic anhydride chain feeding it. Secondary octanol is a comparatively small merchant stream, so DCP supply tends to be concentrated among a handful of integrated producers rather than spread across many standalone esterification plants. That concentration cuts both ways: it supports firmer pricing when alcohol is tight, but it also means DCP can be squeezed out of formulations whenever DOP or DOTP becomes cheaper on a per-tonne basis. Downstream, DCP competes for the same soft PVC applications as DOP, DINP and DOTP, including films, cable compounds, gloves and tape. Because those end markets are increasingly governed by environmental and migration requirements, DCP's addressable demand is structurally narrower than that of non-phthalate alternatives.