The Formic Acid market price for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region has remained stable for the second week of March, then experienced an increase of around 1.12% during the third week of March which is driven by supply-demand dynamics, contributing to improved market conditions.

In the APAC region, the Formic Acid market is showing growth in the price trend, driven by consistently increasing demand across industries such as methanol. The supply has remained sufficient under the new market conditions as there is an ample availability in the market. The 3% decrease in freight rates have boosted the trading activities across the nation due to which the trading activities among the manufacturers have increased. In China, the raw material methanol is experiencing an upward trend. Some units in main methanol production area had maintenance plans, which will eventually reduce supply and cause an uptick in prices. China’s manufacturing economy expanded at a faster rate in February, supported by concurrent rises in both output and new orders amid evidence of improved market conditions. The demand remains constant as the purchasing activity growth also picked up. Additionally, the domestic methanol production has remained at a relatively high level in the third week too, which helped to boost the prices of Formic Acid in the third week of March.

The European market has showed a stable price trend for Formic Acid in the second week of March as the demand from the downstream sector has been consistent despite the increase in sales of feedstock methanol. However, during the third week of March, the prices of Formic Acid saw a decline of 2.48% in the price trend due to sufficient inventory, however some sites faced tight supply conditions. Also, the exchange rate of Euro to USD has showed a slight decline in the past week which can be contributed as major factor for price decline of Formic Acid. Furthermore, some ports across Germany have been facing multiple delays for several weeks. In Rotterdam port, some terminals were closed for trucks few hours causing transportation delays in the last week.   

According to the formic acid data from ChemAnalyst, the supply of formic acid in the market is expected to decrease, coupled with the rise of raw materials, resulting in a strong operation. It is anticipated to continue to maintain a high level in the near future, and specific market news and changes in supply and demand still need to be monitored.