According to the Commodity Market Analysis System of Business Society, the auction price of crude benzene increased during the period from March 15 to March 22, 2024, with a price increase of 7038.75 yuan/ton last week and 7258.75 yuan/ton this week, up 3.13%.

In terms of crude oil: International crude oil futures fell on March 21st. The settlement price of the main WTI crude oil futures contract in the United States was $81.07 per barrel, a decrease of $0.20 or 0.3%. The settlement price of the Brent crude oil futures main contract was $85.24 per barrel, a decrease of $0.14 or 0.2%.

On March 15, 2024, Sinopec’s listed price for pure benzene was increased by 150 yuan/ton, with a current implementation of 8700 yuan/ton.

Other companies: Jingbo Petrochemical quoted 8450 yuan/ton, HSBC Petrochemical quoted 8700 yuan/ton, Weilian Chemical quoted 8153 yuan/ton, Xinhai Petrochemical quoted 8450 yuan/ton, and Hongrun Petrochemical quoted 8700 yuan/ton..

According to the Commodity Market Analysis System of Business Society, the price of pure benzene rose first and then fell this week. On March 18th, the price of pure benzene was 8508 yuan/ton, and on Friday (March 22nd), the price of pure benzene was 8542 yuan/ton, a decrease of 0.09% from last week and an increase of 18.22% from the same period last year.

K-bar chart of commodity prices, using the concept of price trend K-line, reflects the weekly or monthly price fluctuations in the form of a bar chart. Investors can buy and sell based on the changes in the K-bar chart. Red indicates an increase; Green indicates a decline; The height of the K-bar represents the range of fluctuations. The weekly K-bar chart of pure benzene shows that the pure benzene market has seen more ups and downs in recent times.

In terms of the industrial chain, downstream demand has performed well this week, and the expected improvement in demand for raw material pure benzene due to the restart of styrene plants has driven the pure benzene market in East China to heat up. However, in the middle of the week, the styrene market fell, dragging down the mentality of the industrial chain, and the pure benzene market followed a pullback. Over the weekend, there were reports of device maintenance in the downstream, which once again dragged down market sentiment. However, due to the tight supply of crude benzene, auction prices continued to rise this week. As a result, the ex factory prices in the main production areas of the hydrogenated benzene market only slightly decreased this week, with the current mainstream price ranging from 8300 to 8550 yuan/ton.

In terms of supply, the sixth round of reduction in the coke market has quickly landed, with a cumulative decrease of 600-660 yuan/ton. At present, coke enterprises are generally losing money, and actively limiting production continues to increase. The operating rate has dropped to around 65%, and crude benzene production has significantly declined. The overall supply is tight, and affected by the weak trend of the coal coke steel industry chain, the operating rate of coke enterprises is likely to remain low in the near future, and the supply of crude benzene will still be tight in the future. In terms of demand, downstream hydrogenated benzene enterprises have been operating at a relatively stable rate recently, maintaining on-demand replenishment of crude benzene. However, the pure benzene industry chain has been weak this week, dragging down market sentiment. The ex factory price of hydrogenated benzene enterprises has been lowered by 150 yuan/ton within the week, resulting in high raw material prices and weak downstream demand. The hydrogenated benzene industry has a strong mentality of price pressure. In the absence of a significant favorable environment for supply and demand in the future, it is expected that there will still be a slight decline in the short term.