The supply of Phthalic Anhydride in the US market was sufficient, with the domestic plants operating stably. The domestic Phthalic Anhydride was seriously surplus, and the supply of goods was ample enough to affect the market sentiments, resulting in the market trend declining due to lower consumption.

According to the manufacturer, the supply of feedstock Ortho-Xylene as the raw material was high enough, leading to rising in inventories within the regional market. Affected by the decline of the Mixed Xylene market, the demand for feedstock Ortho-Xylene decreased, resulting in the weakening of cost support of Phthalic Anhydride in the US market. The output of plastic products plummeted, the need for plasticizers fell, and the downstream of the Phthalic Anhydride industry still had a downward trend.

In the short term, the price of feedstock Ortho-Xylene is weak, and downstream paints and lacquers industries tend to draw sluggish demand along with the addition of the above-mentioned negative factors. By the end of the week, the prices of Phthalic Anhydride had weakened and lost momentum as the downstream demand fell.

The prices of Phthalic Anhydride decreased in the US market, with prices ranging at USD 1822/tonne FOB Louisiana with a weekly fall of 0.5% (USD -9) as recorded by ChemAnalyst pricing team data. The demand from the downstream construction and polymer industries further weakened the market prices of Phthalic Anhydride.

The dwindling demand leads to product stockpiling as the production rate decreases and supply constraints soften. A weakening in the financial risk profile in the US and a further stretch in the working capital cycle is leading to pressure on cash liquidity. Later, the week downstream users were reluctant to purchase high-priced Phthalic Anhydride and were observed to move sideways to low levels in the short run considering high supply and weakened need.