Silicone prices stop falling and rise again

At the beginning of August, the silicone market changed from the previous downward trend and finally ushered in a new spring. The price reversed upward and the market price increased by 1,000 yuan. /Ton. Although the downstream industry is still in a relatively off-season for demand, due to the limited inventory of enterprises in the early stage, most downstream terminal inventories have bottomed out, and there is a willingness to restock in the short term; on the other hand, the prices of raw material metal silicon and methyl chloride continue to rise, and cost support Increased intensity. The atmosphere for downstream inquiries has heated up, and the transaction atmosphere has improved, but the cautious wait-and-see mentality still exists. With the arrival of the traditional “Golden Nine and Silver Ten”, the silicone market will gradually strengthen.

The start-up of domestic silicone companies has declined. The 60,000-ton unit of the old Xin’an Chemical Plant was shut down; one unit of the Tangshan Sanyou plant was shut down, and one of the Dongyue units started and stopped; Shandong Jinling and Hubei Xingfa had maintenance plans, and the overall market supply level declined.

DMC: Domestic DMC market The market staged a big reversal, and prices stopped falling and rose again. At the beginning of the month, DMC quotations were generally raised, with the range mostly at 1,000 yuan/ton, and the mainstream transaction price was 19,500-20,500 yuan/ton. The prices of raw materials silicon metal and methyl chloride have increased simultaneously. The price of silicon metal has increased by 200 yuan/ton this week. Partial supply of methyl chloride has become tight, and DMC cost support has gradually strengthened, affecting the market. In addition, the number of maintenance inspections by independent enterprises in August increased compared with July, and the supply level of the industry has declined. Although the inventory levels of independent enterprises are currently high, they have a strong attitude towards price support; in addition, downstream enterprises generally have low inventories and have a need for replenishment. , some began to stock up on appropriate quantities, and the market transaction atmosphere improved.

107 glue: Domestic 107 The price of glue stopped falling and rose again, following the trend of raw material prices, with an increase of around 1,000 yuan/ton. The mainstream transaction price is 19,800-20,800 yuan/ton. Although the overall demand for downstream room-temperature adhesives is still relatively off-season, most of the raw material inventories held by downstream room-temperature adhesive manufacturers have bottomed out. As prices reversed upwards, the downstream inquiry atmosphere heated up significantly during the week, and some began to stock up in appropriate quantities. Zhejiang Xin’an’s output decreased due to the parallel installation of its equipment. At the beginning of Zhejiang Zhongtian’s construction, 107 glue was temporarily unavailable.

raw rubber: domestically produced The rubber market price stopped falling and rebounded. The price of the raw material DMC was raised by 1,000 yuan/ton. The rising cost drove the raw rubber market price to follow suit. The mainstream quoted transaction price was 20,500-21,000 yuan/ton. The price of downstream mixed rubber increased, ranging from 1,000-1,500 yuan/ton. Due to concerns about the continuation of the rise in raw materials, inquiries and replenishment efforts increased during the week. The market demand for raw rubber improved, and the mainstream transaction price was 20,000-20,700 yuan/ton. .

Silicone oil: domestic methyl The silicone oil market has turned from weak to strong. The mainstream negotiated price of domestic brands is 21,000-22,000 yuan/ton; the market price of Dow Corning methyl silicone oil has increased by 500-1,000 yuan/ton, mainly due to the strong demand in the foreign methyl silicone oil market. The Zhangjiagang factory receives more external orders. Domestic supply has been significantly reduced. In the domestic methyl silicone oil market, the mainstream quotation price of Dow Corning agents is 23,500-24,500 yuan/ton, and the external quotation price of Shin-Etsu agents is 23,500-24,000 yuan/ton. The quotations of domestic conventional viscosity methyl silicone oil are concentrated at 21,000-23,000 yuan/ton.

Metal silicon: Metal silicon The price continues to rise, and the quotations at various ports have been increased, ranging from 300-700 yuan. The current mainstream transaction price of 421# is 12,700-12,900 yuan/ton. Since the price of metallic silicon stopped falling and rebounded, the cumulative increase in silicon price has exceeded 1,130 yuan/ton. Silicon metal prices started to rise in various places in early August. So far, they have basically maintained a daily upward trend of 100 yuan/ton. Silicon metal prices from various manufacturers are confusing, but the price difference between various brands has gradually narrowed due to high costs. The environmental protection inspection team stationed in Sichuan at the beginning of this month, some companies suspended production and restricted production, resulting in a decline in operating rates, a shortage of spot goods in the market, and less pressure on manufacturers to ship.

Mixed rubber: The domestic rubber mixed market has turned from weak to good, with the price increased by 1,000-1,500 yuan/ton. The mainstream market price of conventional hardness silicone rubber mixed rubber is 20,000-20,500 yuan. / ton, the reference quotation of gas-phase mixed rubber is 28,000-29,000 yuan / ton. On the one hand, the “advance price adjustment” of raw rubber raw materials has made the cost support from weak to strong; on the other hand, the enterprise equipment maintenance within the month has led to market supply The level will decline. Downstream companies are becoming more interested in making inquiries and price inquiries, and there is a slight increase in the behavior of preparing goods in advance.

At present, the supply and demand fundamentals of the domestic silicone market have begun to strengthen. The prices of raw material metal silicon and methyl chloride continue to rise, and cost support has been strengthened. In addition, enterprise equipment maintenance and environmental protection continue to affect the start-up of individual enterprises. In addition, downstream inventories are low, and purchasing enthusiasm has increased slightly. The market price of organic silicon is expected to rise significantly.

(1) Recently, Evonik Group announced the expansion of its fumed silica production capacity in Antwerp, Belgium, with a total investment of no more than 100 million euros. The project is expected to be completed in mid-2019. The base will mainly produce Evonik AEROSIL® brand products, mainly serving coatings, inks, adhesives, silicone elastomers and flame retardant and thermal insulation materials. Evonik’s pyrogenic silica base in Antwerp has a total production capacity of 15,000 tons per year. The base’s production scale currently ranks fourth in the world. After this expansion, it is expected to become the world’s second pyrogenic silica production base.

(2) In the first half of 2017, Evonik Industries Group’s sales increased to 7.3 billion euros. Compared with the same period last year, sales increased by 15%, which was partly due to the first merger of the specialty additives business of the former American Air Products Company, which the group acquired in January this year. Other reasons include substantial growth in market demand and higher product selling prices.

(3) Recently, Wacker Chemical Group announced its second quarter operations. During the reporting period, the group achieved sales of 1.2183 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of approximately 2%, with sales in all regions achieving slight growth. WACKER has now raised its profit forecast for full-year 2017, expecting EBITDA to be between 900 million and 935 million euros.

(4) Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), recently announced that it plans to invest US$100 million in a new R&D center. It aims to promote the integrated research and development of silicone technology and organic chemicals under the former Dow Corning Company. The R&D center will employ approximately 200 R&D personnel and plans to integrate silicone technology with Dow advanced materials science and organic chemicals technology to create future product technologies with interdisciplinary R&D ideas.

(5) On July 31, Dow Chemical held a dedication ceremony for its new headquarters building in Midland, a move that eased Uncertainty stemming from the impending merger with DuPont, thus remaining one of the world’s largest chemical companies. The headquarters, which will house 470 employees and 32 conference rooms, is built from 20 percent (21,000 tons) of recycled materials from the former corporate headquarters, including 23,520 square feet of polyurethane foam and 2,600 gallons of Formashield and other additives of.

From: China Silicone Forum