亚洲环氧树脂市场面临下游需求低迷

据ICIS网站12月30日新加坡报道 亚洲环氧树脂制造商在2019年的大部分时间里都在试图在高原料成本和下游销售疲软之间达成微妙的平衡。

这些困境可能会一直延续到2020年，因为疲软的全球经济前景继续给近期下游需求复苏的前景蒙上阴影。

由于原料环氧氯丙烷（ECH）的持续供应限制也不太可能这么快消失，因此从上游成本角度来看，可能也不会有什么喘息的机会。

尽管如此，市场人士表示，如果环氧树脂需求持续低迷，这可能有助于抑制环氧树脂价格的上涨，而环氧树脂的短缺则难以承受。

一位环氧树脂制造商感叹道：“这对我来说可能是更好的情况。”

2019年，亚洲环氧氯丙烷价格飞涨，7月份上涨近30%，达到1900美元/吨（成本加运费）以上，而年初仅为1500美元/吨。

到2019年底，亚洲环氧氯丙烷价格已回落至1500美元/吨左右（成本加运费）。

王磊 摘译自 ICIS

原文如下：

OUTLOOK ’20: Asia epoxy resins to struggle with muted downstream demand

Asia’s epoxy resin makers have spent much of 2019 trying to strike a delicate balance between high feedstock costs and sluggish downstream offtake.

The difficulties may extend well into 2020, as murky global economic outlook continues to cast a pall over prospects of any near-term downstream demand recovery.

There could be little respite from the upstream cost perspectives too, as ongoing supply constraints in feedstock epichlorohydrin (ECH) are unlikely to disappear so soon either.

That said, if epoxy resins demand continued to languish, this may help to temper the increases in ECH prices, shortage notwithstandingly, market participants said.

“This may well be the better case scenario for me,” an epoxy resins maker lamented.

In 2019, Asia’s ECH prices sky-rocketed, rising by nearly 30% to hit over $1,900/tonne CFR (cost and freight) China Main Port (CMP) in July, from barely $1,500/tonne CFR CMP at the start of the year.

These ongoing closures, Asian ECH prices had slumped back to around $1,500/tonne CFR CMP by end of 2019.