As of first half of April, the prices of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) in the European market has declined from last week of March to second week of April 2025 by around 1.6%. This fall was instigated by steady feedstock availability at lower cost and improved logistics to insure adequate supply. Cost relief from the upstream, acetic acid following decline in the prices of its feedstock methanol. As per data released by Methanex, monthly contract prices of methanol have shown contraction of 75 euro per MT. This development has led to lower production cost of PVA amid declining energy cost. Moreso, the demand from the downstream industry like textile, adhesive, paper and coating has remained low capping any upward movement of PVA price.

Moving to PVA supply in the German market, domestic PVA manufacturers operated steadily, and most facilities utilization rates were optimum. Upstream feedstock Acetic acid saw improved production due to lower prices of methanol, while chlorine availability was stable. Transatlantic and Asia-Europe Freight rates continued to decline, facilitating uninterrupted shipment from major exporter like USA and China. Inventories level across domestic terminals remained ample. However, uncertainty looms around the market due to U.S-E.U tariff development encouraging buyer to reassess long terms PVA sourcing strategies.

On the demand side, the demand for PVA from the downstream textile industry has remained on the lower side with conservative consumer spending and lower operating mills rate. As the market continues to be filled with cheap textile imports from the Chinese market. The weak global apparel market and cautious inventories management limited offtakes, while demand from the paper-related product and demand for adhesive and binder has shown no impactful improvement.

Another important downstream in adhesive and packing materials has shown muted product demand. FMCG-linked consumption showed slight stability, but challenging macroeconomics situations like cost inflations and weak downstream orders constrained bulk purchasing of commodity.

While the downstream construction sector has shown clear contraction in March, civil engineering displayed relative resilience, raising expectation of a Q2 recovery. This could improve mild support to PVA demand used in mixed mortars, cementitious coating, and tile adhesive. However, current coating consumption remains limited due to reduced housing and commercial activity.

As per ChemAnalyst database, the prices of PVA in Germany is expected to decline in the upcoming weeks. This development is likely to take place due to lower prices of feedstock VAM and Acetic acid. Furthermore, demand from the downstream industry like textile and adhesive industries likely to remain low, leading to lower product inquires.