Aggressive Imports and Lackluster Demand Decline the Global Iso-Butanol Prices

Shanghai, China- Asian market witnesses plentiful Iso-Butanol offers amid weak demand and deterred market fundamentals this week. The falling spot market in the region, adequate stocks at significant producing units, and slow economies across the vicinity led to significant weak cost support for Iso-Butanol.

In China, the buying activities were mainly on a need basis, as downstream paint and coating industries were lulled, and players curtailed their offers to sustain their profit margins and revenue. In terms of the trade market, inflows of Iso-Butanol from Germany to the Chinese market remain lackluster after sufficient premium cargo offers from the past few weeks, which caused bearish market fundamentals. Regional producers continue looking to weaken the market demand with low run rates and volume commitments resulting in adequate inventories. With the week ending on 19th May, the price of Iso-Butanol in China declined to USD 1014/ton CFR Qingdao with a weekly decline of 2.02%.

Limited utilization of existing inventories combined with pessimistic bids for new stocks from the global market led to a flawed price trend in Germany. Most small-scale trades in the regional Iso-Butanol market have been retraced, with lower spot pricing and drastically worsening downstream paint and coating sectors. As their next purchase will probably be at a lesser price, traders were hesitant to acquire in greater quantities or at higher prices. Due to the gradual decline in crude oil prices and economic slowdown in European countries, feedstock Propylene prices have also slumped.

ChemAnalyst predicts that contract price negotiations and weak spot price discussions will continue to influence the global Iso-Butanol market. As reduced interest costs, sufficient supply, and a weak downstream paint and coating market continue to be the determining factors, the price of Iso-Butanol is expected to decline even more. The expenses for the June contract will experience even another drop if the cost pattern continues to trend downward in the coming weeks. Germany's exports of Iso-Butanol to the global markets are likewise anticipated to decline, and trade is planned to take place mostly as needed.