MMA Market Will Be Boosted to Go up in June

Introduction: The sudden shutdown and maintenance of methyl methacrylate (MMA) are boosting the market. On May 10, the unit of Lucite was shut. Evonik’s unit in Germany will undergo maintenance in June and the unit in the U.S. will have a three-week maintenance in June.

Recently, the supply of MMA continues being tight and MMA prices will be at a high level in June. Though the downstream demand will face the off season in June, the MMA market will be firm. So, what are the reasons for this firm market?  

First, Chinese MMA market may see better export.

The sudden shutdown and maintenance of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) are boosting the market. On May 10, the unit of Lucite was shut. Evonik’s unit in Germany will undergo maintenance in June and the unit in the U.S. will have a three-week maintenance in June. Given the tight supply, the prices in Europe and America went to a high level. It was heard that the highest dealing price reached euro 3,000/mt. China may raise the export volume in June.

Moreover, it is heard that the PMMA unit of Sumitomo Chemical will be put into operation in the short term and Sumitomo will purchase around 8,000mt of MMA to undergo trial production. The supply will be tighter.

Second, China’s MMA supply will be tight in June.

Accordingly, PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical and Shandong Hongxu Chemical mainly supply goods to their contract customers. And some MMA producers are operating at low loads on the tight supply of acetone cyanohydrin. Thus, the overall supply will be tight.

Furthermore, some Chinese downstream users were bearish about the market and held low MMA inventories in early May. However, boosted the increasing market, downstream users of MMA purchased goods actively. So, the MMA prices got enough support.

Third, the new application of MMA becomes a new driving force.

Influenced by the jumping MMA market, the PMMA market performed well. Moreover, with the environmental requirement becoming stricter and stricter, new kinds of coatings come out. Water-based paint and powder paint become more and more popular. The demand for MMA has been boosted.

On the whole, the MMA market will be firm in June 2017.