Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) prices demonstrated conflicting sentiments across the global market during the last week of October 2022. Fear of global recession, uncertainties in China, and plant shutdown in Europe, coupled with stable to weak demand, have hampered the market growth of Methyl Methacrylate across the globe.

In the Asian market, prices of MMA have gained downward momentum during the week ending 28th October in the wake of the sufficient inventory level, along with weak demand from the downstream derivative Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) industries. In addition, the ongoing lockdown measures in some cities of China amid rising pandemic cases lead to uncertainties in production, operation, and logistics. This exerted the downward pressure to the end-user demand. Further, China’s manufacturing activity contracted due to China’s zero Covid policy and recession fear. According to the data, PMI shifted to 49.2 in October compared with the previous month.

Similarly, in Japan, manufacturing activity weakened amid a decline in output. Also, the inflows of new export orders have dropped due to worsening conditions in China and South Korea, forcing the manufacturer to revise their price quotations. As a result, prices of Methyl Methacrylate in Japan were settled at USD 1722/MT with a weekly decline of around 1.7% during the same time frame.

At the same time, MMA prices have risen in the European market on the back of the increase in raw material Acetone Cyanohydrin cost. Although, the speculation of recession across the European market has slumped the demand from the downstream PMMA industries. According to the ifo Business Climate index plunged from 84.4 points to 84.3 points in October. In addition, the major manufacturer of Methyl methacrylate Rohm in Worms, Germany, has extended the shutdown of several MMA monomer production units till November due to low market demand in the region. In conclusion, prices of MMA in Germany were raised by around 3% during October.

On the other hand, in the USA market, MMA prices have shown a slight increment, backed by the improving demand from the end-user PMMA sector. As per the data, Manufacturing activity showed a slight increase in the USA. Also, the new order index increased from 47.1 to 49.2 in October, while the production index rose to 52.3 in comparison with the previous month. Thus, prices of Methyl Methacrylate FOB USGC were assessed at USD 2300/MT on 28th October.

According to ChemAnalyst estimation, “prices of global Methyl Methacrylate will likely follow the downtrend in the upcoming weeks due to the weak demand from PMMA industries.”