Price trends in the China's chemical market in the first half of 2022

In the international energy market in the first half of 2022, crude oil, coal and natural gas market prices rose by more than 30%, of which, Brent and WTI crude oil spot prices rose by 40.95% and 37.64%, respectively, European power coal (S:1.0 A:16 Q:6000) rose by 47.84%, and NYMEX natural gas rose by 33.68%. Current energy prices are already at historic highs. At the same time, China's coal and natural gas prices rose at a significantly lower rate than the international market, with spot prices of LNG up 18.45% in the first half of the year, and power coal (Q5500) and 1/3 coking coal up 11.94% and 8.58%, respectively, with a divergence between China's domestic and international energy price trends.

Overview of the rise and fall of Chinese chemicals

Most of the products' prices rose while a few fell

Among more than 200 chemical varieties, the number of varieties with rising prices reached 49% in the first half of 2022, while those with flat and falling prices accounted for 28% and 23% respectively. Among the chemicals with rising prices, lithium carbonate, diesel, sulfur, phosphate rock, gasoline, fuel oil, crude oil, xylene, European power coal and NYMEX natural gas led the way, with increases of more than 30%. The leading varieties are mostly new energy (lithium carbonate), upstream raw materials (crude oil, coal, natural gas, phosphate rock), refined oil and upstream petrochemical products related to (gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, PX, sulfur) products. Among the chemicals with falling prices, silicon metal, spandex and other products saw large price drops, and most of the falling varieties were fine chemicals near the downstream.