Downstream Urgent Purchases Drive Acrylic Market to Decline

October 21, news

Market Overview:

By late October 2025, the acrylic market experienced a downward trend, with an overall bearish sentiment prevailing. The key market dynamics can be summarized as follows: collapsing cost support, persistent supply pressures, and continuously weak downstream demand—these three factors have collectively driven prices lower. As of October 21, the benchmark price for acrylic was 7,133.33 CNY per ton, representing a 0.70% increase compared to last week's price of 7,183.00 CNY per ton.

Cost Side:

The most fundamental driver of the market decline comes from the upstream. The market price of propylene, a key raw material, has continued to fall. As of October 21, the benchmark price of propylene was 6,195.75 CNY/ton, a decrease of 5.31% compared to the beginning of the month (6,543.25 CNY/ton). This has significantly lowered the production cost center for acrylic acid, causing the loss of price anchoring at the source of the industrial chain. When production costs no longer serve as a rigid constraint, producers gain greater flexibility and room for compromise in their pricing and shipping strategies.

Supply Side:

The overall operating load of the industry remains stable, and there are reports of plans to restart facilities in Lanzhou and other places. This suggests that the supply of goods in the market may further increase in the future, exacerbating the pressure on the supply side.

Demand Side:

This is the biggest pain point in the current market. Downstream industries (such as coatings, adhesives, SAP, etc.) generally adopt a conservative strategy, with "essential purchases" becoming the mainstream. They mainly focus on fulfilling existing contracts or digesting their own inventory, and their willingness to actively enter the market for stockpiling is extremely low. Although the operating rates of downstream industries have recovered somewhat after the holiday, the actual increase in procurement is not enough to absorb the market supply and cannot effectively drive up prices.

Under the aforementioned fundamentals, market sentiment remains overwhelmingly cautious. The "buy on rallies, avoid selling" mentality has led downstream customers to generally hold onto their cash, waiting for prices to drop further. This widespread hesitation is further dampening trading activity, creating a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Meanwhile, suppliers, eager to attract orders and maintain cash flow, are forced to adopt a "follow-the-market" pricing strategy—or even proactively lower their prices—to boost sales, pushing the market’s price center of gravity steadily downward.

Future Prospects

Overall, the weak situation in the acrylic acid market is unlikely to change in the short term and is expected to continue with a weak and downward fluctuation trend.

Negative factors:

The weak trend in the upstream raw materials market is expected to persist, making it difficult for cost support to recover in the short term. Meanwhile, unless downstream demand sees significant and sustained growth, the imbalance between supply and demand—where supply continues to outpace demand—will likely remain the key factor weighing down prices.

Going forward, it will be crucial to monitor the operational adjustments and pricing strategies of mainstream production companies. Should large-scale, proactive reductions in production capacity occur, this could potentially provide the market with a much-needed opportunity to stabilize. Otherwise, without any positive catalysts to boost sentiment, the market is likely to continue its downward trend.

In summary, the current acrylic acid market in China is in a typical downward channel being squeezed by both weak costs and weak demand. All participants need to remain cautious and closely monitor any signals of change in the supply and demand fundamentals.