Several categories of petrochemicals have been witnessing major inflationary pressure from the upstream volatility in the energy feedstocks. The energy market has been volatile since the beginning of the year however conflict between Ukraine and Russia and other events have further exacerbated the market dynamics. The demand for crude oil and natural gas have been strong globally as uncertainties around supply continue to face disruptions. Both crude oil and Natural gas prices have been robust where WTI crossed USD 113/b and Henry Hub Natural gas breached USD 5/MMBtu on 22nd March 2022.

Similarly, Polyamide market has also observed firm prices in the global market where both European and North American prices witness marginal spike in March price assessments. The feedstock market has stabilized in the last couple of weeks where Adipic acid as well as Caprolactam prices have been stabilizing after a strong uptrend rally in late February and early March. As of last week, of March, Adipic acid prices were assessed at USD 2125 per MT in the USA while the European market settled at Euro 3340 per MT on an FD basis.

Meanwhile, Caprolactam prices have stabilized after price deterioration in aromatics after crude oil market declined on 2nd and 3rd week of March. As per the latest assessment, Caprolactam prices dropped by USD 40 per MT in the USA and were assessed at USD 2010 per MT on an FOB basis. Europe market has also mirrored above market sentiment and prices were assessed at Euro 2315 per MT on an FD basis.

On the demand side, Polyamide consumption has been firm in both the European and US markets as the performance of the textile industry has been robust despite stagnancy in automobile industry output in both the regions. Polyamide 66 has been heavily employed in the automobile and construction industries. Hence, US Polyamide 66 prices were assessed at USD 4470 per MT on a DDP basis and European Polyamide prices were measured at Euro 5120 per MT on an FD basis.

As per ChemAnalyst, “Polyamide market is expected to remain firm in the short term as demand fundamentals are expected to remain healthy and construction industry is likely to increase volume intakes in Q2 and Q3 which have, traditionally, been peak season of demand.”