According to the commodity analysis system of Shengyi Society, the styrene market fell weakly this week, with an average price of 8716 yuan/ton at the beginning of the week and 8646 yuan/ton over the weekend, a decrease of 0.8% during the week.

News: Crude oil fluctuated and fell this week. On February 14th, the settlement price of international crude oil futures closed slightly lower. WTI March crude oil futures closed down 0.08 US dollars, a decrease of 0.11%, at 71.29 US dollars per barrel. Brent crude oil futures for April closed down $0.16, or 0.21%, at $75.02 per barrel.

On the cost side: Pure benzene showed a strong trend this week, with good shipments from Shandong’s local refineries. Shandong Lihua Yi’s 200000 ton pure benzene plant began planned maintenance, and Sinopec’s pure benzene listing price increased by 100 to 7750 yuan/ton. Pure benzene prices rose, and the price difference between pure benzene and styrene further narrowed.

Supply and demand side: The inventory of styrene at the port is still high, and the growth rate of inventory this week has slowed down. The downstream 3S demand growth is limited, and EPS production is at a low level, waiting for further demand release.

Market forecast: Currently, the cost of styrene is high, profits are tight, and the supply and demand sides are weak. There is a possibility of high-level consolidation in the raw material side in the future. It is expected that the styrene market will fluctuate and consolidate in the short term, and we will closely monitor changes in market costs and supply and demand.