On the 7th, Brent crude oil hit a maximum of nearly $140 in Asian electronic trading, approaching the highest price level in history. It then fell back, but was still more than $10 higher than last Friday. Energy and chemical futures have set off another rising limit trend, PTA in the polyester chain has reached its daily limit, and staple fiber and EG have each exceeded their post-year highs. PTA reported 6,466 yuan, while staple fiber and EG surged 4.57% and 5.15% respectively.
Brent crude oil rose more than 25% last week, the largest weekly gain since the futures contract was launched in 1988, as market concerns intensified that Russian crude oil exports may be disrupted. After a brief period of silence over the weekend, the Russian armed forces resumed their offensive. The United States stepped up energy sanctions and planned to join forces with its European allies to discuss banning the import of Russian oil. On the morning of the 7th, Brent crude oil reached a high of US$140 and US oil reached a high of US$130.
International crude oil is rising rapidly, and the cost of ethylene glycol has risen sharply. When the integrated unit is suffering from serious losses, ethylene glycol actively follows the rise and tries to narrow the losses. As the losses of naphtha-based ethylene glycol continue to expand, the production pressure of some domestic units has become more prominent, and the supply side has begun to shrink. In addition, ethylene glycol units in South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and India have all reduced their load to varying degrees.
The PTA market relies on the support of crude oil and has risen sharply without significant improvement in its own fundamentals. It has reached daily limit several times recently. The PTA processing interval continues to be compressed to a low level. Since late February, centralized maintenance of PTA has increased. Currently, Yiyisheng Petrochemical, Zheng Chemical Fiber, Yangzi Petrochemical, Hengli Petrochemical, Zhuhai Ineos and other equipment are expected to undergo maintenance.
On the demand side, starting from the second half of the Spring Festival holiday, domestic polyester factories reduced production before the holiday and increased their load for maintenance, and the polyester load was quickly repaired after the holiday, which together led to a significant increase in the average monthly load compared with the previous month. As domestic polyester production is reduced, maintenance equipment is gradually restarted, and there are plans to put new equipment into production in the polyester industry, the output level of the domestic polyester industry will be further boosted. However, individual factories plan to reduce production within the month, and polyester filament factories are under great pressure on finished product inventory, which may drag down the growth level of polyester output during the month.
In terms of terminals, the start-up of terminal texturing, weaving, and printing and dyeing factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang continued to increase slightly last week. As raw material prices continued to rise, terminal factory raw material procurement followed up during the week, and polyester production and sales increased in stages. At present, there are limited new domestic trade orders in the spring and summer, while the foreign trade market is more cautious in accepting orders due to high sea freight squeezing profits, and the overall recovery of terminal weaving demand is lower than expected.
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