In early March 2025, Japan market shows a decline in the price of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) while the automotive and construction industry in Japan have been showing significant growth from the previous few weeks.   Downstream industries’ performance had a major impact on the market trend, as the demand and supply kept on fluctuating.

The increase in sales in the automobile industry indicate an incline of the demand for MMA and its derivative PMMA in the market during February, which is likely to continue in March 2025. In the meantime, companies are actively switching to sustainable alternatives, as Sumitomo Chemical which is a Japanese company will begin selling its polymer product PMMA (poly methyl methacrylate) made from MMA monomer produced through chemical recycling. Companies like LG Display Co. Ltd of South Korea and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. Of Japan have accepted this thought and decided to use this chemically recycled material for their particular products. The implementation of chemical recycling in the chemical industry will increase the sustainability in the MMA market.

Like Japan, Belgian market also witnessed a decline in the price of MMA primarily influenced by the weak demand from downstream industries. Declining sales directly reflect weak demand, due to a decline in automotive sector sales compared to the seasonal trend led to the price decline of MMA and PMMA in Belgium whereas the feedstock acetone prices remained stagnant.

In China also the price trend of MMA declined whereas the PMMA remains stagnant. Downstream industries specifically the automobile and construction sector show inconsistent demand as the automobile industry does not follow the seasonal trend. The sales of automobiles show a slight decline in the past months which hugely impacted on price trend. The feedstock acetone remains stagnant which implies the manufacturing and supply remains steady and stable.

The US market faces the same downward trend of MMA and for PMMA, slightly different than the trend observed in China. In the US, the automotive and construction market show a rise in demand for PMMA whereas the supply remains steady. As the PMMA is the polymer of MMA which is used for making the interior part of automobile vehicles if its demand rises the MMA prices also tends to go upward.

In South Korea, the same trend of decline of MMA was observed whereas the price of PMMA remains stagnant. The downstream industries demand trend is the major factor for the decline in price of MMA.

As per the ChemAnalyst, it would be interesting to see the price fluctuations in prices of MMA and PMMA for the global market in the coming weeks. As the rising geopolitical issues and tariff war have started threatening the global trade.