After the holiday, accompanied by rainy and snowy weather in most northern regions, logistics continued to be hindered, leading to a significant increase in enterprise inventory. Many enterprises have reduced their operating rates to alleviate the pressure of losses, while downstream enterprises have encountered insufficient replenishment. Starting this week, transportation has gradually eased, factory inventory has decreased significantly, terminals have arrived one after another, and market transactions have heated up. However, overall market prices are still not optimistic. Since February, the market has continued to decline, with the price of Northwest calcium carbide monitored by Business Society dropping to 2900 yuan/ton, a decrease of 3.33%. It is understood that the mainstream price in the Wuhai area has dropped to 2700-2750 yuan/ton.

From the supply side perspective, production enterprises had high inventory before and after the Spring Festival. In order to actively ship goods, many enterprises provided subsidies and discounts, leading to a slight decline in the market. In the middle and late stages, logistics were hindered by the Spring Festival holiday and post holiday rainy and snowy weather, leading to further increase in enterprise inventory. Factories were forced to reduce production burden, leading to a shortage of raw materials near the end of the month. With the gradual arrival of goods, the supply side inventory pressure has decreased, and it is expected that the operating rate of enterprises may slightly increase.

From the demand side, due to the delayed arrival of calcium carbide, enterprises have been passively reducing their burden and have gradually recovered in the near future. It is expected that there will be fewer maintenance plans for the downstream PVC industry in March, and the overall demand will be relatively stable. The demand for calcium carbide will increase in the later stage.

In the future, the calcium carbide market has bottomed out. Considering that enterprise inventories are still at a medium to high level and prices remain relatively stable, as the speed of outbound shipments increases and downstream demand gradually improves, the calcium carbide market is steadily improving.