Post-holiday Increase in Acetone Market Inventory Volume and the Struggle for a Good Start in China

February 13th, News

As the Spring Festival holiday approaches, the acetone market in China has seen a moderate increase before the festival. What will the market look like after the holiday? Looking back at the past six years, the acetone market has almost consistently risen after the Spring Festival. From 2021 to 2025, prices increased in both the first week and the first month after the holiday. This year, before the holiday, the market in East China has already reached 4,600-4,650 CNY/ton. The cost of pure benzene is stable, and with maintenance expectations for Huizhou Zhongxin and Jiangsu Ruiheng, there is indeed support for the bullish sentiment in the market.

The strongest confidence comes from costs and maintenance. First, raw materials: At the beginning of 2026, international crude oil prices remain resilient, and the supply-demand balance for pure benzene has significantly improved compared to last year, ensuring that cost support remains robust. Second, supply contraction: Following the holiday, the Huizhou Zhongxin plant will undergo a conversion, and Jiangsu Ruiheng will carry out planned maintenance. As a result, China’s phenol-ketone operating rates will decline from their current high levels. Before the holiday, China’s operating rate had already reached its highest level in nearly three years for this period, so a substantial drop is virtually certain. Combined with historical inertia and anticipated maintenance activities, the “inertia-driven high pricing” seen at the market opening after the holiday will likely materialize.

The biggest hidden risk: a mismatch between inventory levels and demand. During the Spring Festival, Chinese plants maintained high operating rates, and imported contracted cargoes arrived at ports as scheduled. In the final week before the holiday, port inventory at Jiangyin stood at 35,500 tons—a relatively low level—but this was the result of inventory depletion prior to the festival. As logistics come to a standstill during the holiday and ship cargoes are gradually replenished, it’s inevitable that port inventory will rise after the festival. Even more critical is the timing of demand. While downstream operations for bisphenol A and MIBK have seen a slight increase, isopropyl alcohol production is set to decline markedly; solvent manufacturers traditionally resume operations rather slowly. This implies that the pace of supply recovery will likely outstrip the pace at which demand catches up. Moreover, in mid-March, Shandong Ruilin’s new plant is still scheduled for commissioning—another factor contributing to anticipated future supply pressure.

Here are the acetone quotation situations in major mainstream markets across the country: