From November 26 to December 3, 2021, the bidding price of crude benzene decreased significantly, from 5531 yuan / ton last weekend to 4911 yuan / ton this weekend, a weekly decrease of 11.21%.

Summary of price adjustment of Sinopec pure benzene in 2021 (unit: yuan / ton)

Date., adjusted price., adjusted amount

October 8, 8000., + 300

October 11, 8400., + 400

October 26, 8100. – 300

October 28, 7600. – 500

November 16, 7400. – 200

November 18, 7000. – 400

November 26, 6700. – 300

November 29, 6450. – 250

On November 29, 2021, the listing price of Sinopec’s pure benzene was reduced by 300 yuan / ton to 6450 yuan / ton, of which Qilu Petrochemical implemented 6400 yuan / ton. Other enterprises: Dongming Petrochemical offers 6200 yuan / ton, HSBC Petrochemical offers 6450 yuan / ton, and Jincheng Petrochemical offers 6150 yuan / ton; Weilian chemical offers 6103 yuan / ton, Xinhai Petrochemical offers 6150 yuan / ton, and Hongrun Petrochemical offers 6250 yuan / ton.

Crude oil: on December 2, international oil prices rebounded. The settlement price of the main contract of us WTI crude oil futures was US $66.50/barrel, up US $0.93 or 1.4%, and the settlement price of the main contract of Brent crude oil futures was US $69.67/barrel, up US $0.80 or 1.2%. Oil prices closed higher on Thursday, mainly because the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC +) agreed to maintain the production increase plan in January, i.e. an increase of 400000 barrels / day, in line with market expectations, but the impact of the mutant virus Omicron on energy demand is still fermenting, and the oil price is still in an empty environment.

Since the end of November, the decline of crude oil has expanded, the downstream styrene has maintained a continuous downward trend, and the upstream and downstream support of pure benzene is weak. In terms of supply, the load of a large unit in East China is increased, and the supply of pure benzene is expected to increase in December; The arrival of cargo at East China port is concentrated, and the inventory rises rapidly. It is expected that the inventory will continue to rise in the later stage. Multiple bad news superimposed, and the price of pure benzene fell rapidly. The hydrogenated benzene market mainly follows the trend of pure benzene downward. Affected by the continuous decline of the market, the mentality of hydrogenated benzene enterprises has increased recently. The operating rate has declined as a whole, and the demand for crude benzene is poorly supported. As the environmental protection supervision team of coking enterprises settled in Heilongjiang, Ningxia and other places this weekend, some local enterprises are expected to have a certain impact on their output. Since entering the heating season, affected by multiple factors, coking enterprises have been actively reducing and limiting production, the output of coke and by-products has been at a low level, and the supply and demand of crude benzene industrial chain are weak.

In the future, the business society believes that the accumulation of pure benzene in East China and the weak supply and demand once again affect the market mentality. At present, the profits of benzene hydrogenation enterprises are low, the operation of enterprises is low, and the demand for crude benzene slows down. Although the supply of crude benzene is tight in the near future, it lacks downstream support, and the future price is expected to be weak.