[PS Weekly Review] Market Continues to Decline Due to Decreasing Costs and Inventory Reduction Pressure

This week's hot topics

current periodThe center of gravity fell, with a range of 50-150 yuan/ton, mainly affected by the decline in styrene and market price reductions for sales.

2) This week, China's PS industry production was 103,000 tons, with a capacity utilization rate of 67.4%, an increase of 1.9% from last week.

3) This week, China's PS finished goods inventory is 118,000 tons, an increase of 6,000 tons from last week, with a growth rate of 5.4%.

2. Weekly Market Review

Figure 1 Domestic PS East China Market Price Trend (Unit: Yuan/Ton)

During this period, the domestic PS market focus declined, with a range of 50-150 yuan/ton. The market was mainly affected by the decline in styrene and price reductions for sales. In terms of cost, the continued decline in pure benzene and high inventory levels influenced the weak trend of styrene. On the supply and demand side, the restart of some production facilities in Guangxi, Shandong, and Anhui led to continued growth in industry output, but the overall recovery downstream did not meet expectations, and inventories continued to accumulate. According toThe data shows that on March 20, 2025, the price of transparent benzene in the East China market fell by 100 to 8550 yuan/ton, and the price of modified benzene fell by 50 to 9850 yuan/ton.

3. Next week's market forecast

It is expected that the PS market may undergo a weak consolidation in the short term. On the cost side, under the influence of gradually balanced supply and demand, the price of styrene may tend to fluctuate narrowly, weakening its guidance on the PS price. In terms of supply and demand, the industry's supply recovery speed is faster than demand, with fundamentals trending towards a more relaxed situation, still facing inventory accumulation pressure. Affected by this, there is a possibility of PS prices becoming more flexible, with profits possibly being squeezed, and the price difference with styrene likely to continue narrowing.