According to Singapore ICIS news on February 9, BASF will suspend production and maintenance of its Chongqing, China MDI unit (400,000 tons/year) from February 6. The maintenance is expected to last 3-4 weeks, and the production line recovery time is expected to be in February. 27th – March 5th.
In addition, on the evening of February 3, Wanhua Chemical issued a routine shutdown and maintenance announcement for the second phase of the MDI plant in Ningbo. The announcement stated that according to the requirements of the chemical enterprise’s production process and production equipment, in order to ensure the safe and effective operation of the production equipment, in accordance with the annual plan, this The MDI phase II unit (800,000 tons/year) of Wanhua Chemical (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, will stop production for maintenance on February 13, 2023, and the maintenance is expected to take about 30 days.
BASF and Wanhua Chemical are not only in sync with the shutdown and maintenance of MDI equipment, but are also highly unified in terms of price increases.
On the evening of January 30, Wanhua Chemical released an announcement on the price of MDI in China for February 2023. The announcement stated that starting from February 2023, the listed price of Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.’s polymerized MDI in China was 17,800 yuan/ton (compared to January 2023). The price increased by 1,000 yuan/ton); the listing price of pure MDI was 22,500 yuan/ton (the price increased by 2,000 yuan/ton from January).
On January 27, BASF announced a price increase for MDI basic products in ASEAN and South Asia, with an increase of US$300/ton, effective immediately.
According to reports from Business News, the domestic polymeric MDI market has surged after the holiday. From January 28 to February 10, the domestic market price of polymeric MDI rose from 14,960 yuan/ton to 16,680 yuan/ton, an increase of 11.5%.
Boosted by the current shortage of spot goods, coupled with the significant increase in monthly settlement prices of manufacturing companies, traders’ quotations have increased, and the market center of gravity continues to rise. Downstream industries are recovering one after another, and the operating rate of the refrigerator and freezer industries has increased. The overall driving force of the domestic polymeric MDI market is relatively strong.
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