Shanghai: China, the world's top producer, and exporter of Vitamin B4, have seen a continual decline in price from Q4 2022 to the end-Q1 2023 due to the end-user pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors' low purchasing power. Along with sluggish domestic market activity, overseas orders, notably from significant importers like the US, have also declined due to weaker demand as purchasers continue to adopt a certain wait-and-see approach to the trend.

Vitamin B4 prices in China have been steadily declining due to the weak demand from domestic and global markets, which sparked a surge in inventory accumulation. Manufacturers have decided to maintain some stock at a reasonable cost when Chinese New Year's Eve falls in late January to prepare for a decline in demand from end-user producers. As Vitamin B4 inventories are more than enough to meet the needs of immediate clients, demand from end-user producers has been on the weak side since the beginning of February. To increase sales, Chinese retailers have mostly lowered the price of Vitamin B4; as a result, Vitamin B4 FOB Shanghai prices fell by 3.3% from the previous quarter and are predicted to drop by more than 5% by the end of April.

However, purchasers' CFR prices for Vitamin B4 are also declining concurrently. As the price of Vitamin B4 in the Chinese market declines, CFR purchasers are now being presented with lower import quotations from China at the time of procurement. While import purchases are made at a price that was effectively lower than the previous month due to declining demand from end-user pharmaceuticals and the healthcare sector, distributors have therefore lowered the costs of Vitamin B4 in the global market.

The ChemAnalyst team predicts that prices for Vitamin B4 in the Chinese market would probably rise sharply as a result of a rebound in demand from end-user businesses and centralized manufacturing. It is believed there is a shortage of Vitamin B4, so vendors would increase their prices at random to maintain their profit.