VCM Prices Poised for Modest Rise in May After April Stability
- 13-May-2025 8:30 PM
- Journalist: Motoki Sasaki
Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) prices held firm in the Asian region in April 2025, with upstream ethylene markets weakening moderately while downstream PVC prices were unmoved. Regional activity remained lackluster amid subdued demand and guarded buying interest, although market fundamentals indicate a marginal increase in VCM prices in May.
VCM prices in Southeast Asia and China remained unchanged. The trend was similar to that in the overall atmosphere, both in upstream and downstream markets. Ethylene, one of the major feedstocks for VCM, decreased marginally in Southeast Asia as downstream maintenance operations eased supply tensions. Downstream PVC values throughout Asia did not move, showing that there was no cost-push for VCM values.
A leading Taiwanese supplier maintained May shipment offers for the PVC resin suspension grade unchanged from April levels. This pricing move indicates feeble regional buying interest. According to the latest insight, leading Taiwanese producers maintained offer prices unchanged from prior price levels. At the same time, the buying sentiment remains weak in the region.
Demand for VCM in India was moderate in the face of slow PVC importation. PVC prices were steady, and purchases were postponed by buyers in anticipation of announcements of impending anti-dumping duties as well as sustained local oversupply. Plant cutbacks and restrained inventories, however, should revive buying sentiment at a better pace in May.
VCM Market participants observed that muted trade volumes in China during Chinaplas and Thai holidays helped support weak spot demand. Moreover, PVC futures fell amid general bearishness despite reduced supply from maintenance runs, including the closure of Tianjin Bohai Chemical Group's PVC plant.
Worldwide, crude oil prices painted a mixed picture in the VCM market. Political tensions and sanctions placed oil under upward pressure that could hike costs in the petrochemical supply chain. But fear about world economic growth and trade policies continues to bear down on demand estimates. These forces are creating uncertainty in the near term, but may eventually feed into higher input costs if oil continues its upward trend in May.
As per 果酱视频, in the near term, Asian VCM prices are likely to rise modestly in May 2025 on the back of expected replenishment of PVC stocks after holidays and exhibition slowdowns, reduced VCM availability on account of plant turnaround and low spot offers, and modest cost support from a possible recovery in ethylene if crude prices harden.
Although overall demand recovery is slow, indications of diminished supply and restocking operations could prompt a modest price increase for VCM in the next few weeks. But sustained wariness on the part of buyers and macroeconomic headwinds are expected to keep the speed of any price increase in check.