According to LME data, on January 8, 2019, the total stock of copper metal was 132,350 tonnes; the total stock of aluminium metal was 1,283,500 tonnes, increasing by 7,450 tonnes per day; and the total stock of aluminium alloy was 10,600 tonnes, decreasing by 280 tonnes per day.
| Sodium Molybdate |
API crude oil stocks fell 6.127 million barrels in the week of January 4, with an expected decline of 3.3 million barrels and a pre-value decline of 4.5 million barrels.
| Azodicarbonamide (AC foaming Agent) |
Recent declines in crude oil costs and the start-up of new cracking units will increase propylene production in the United States in 2019, although export and unplanned shutdowns may cause some volatility in the market.
| Melamine |
For most of 2018, tight supply of propylene in the United States led to higher prices. Propylene prices in the United States rose sharply in early 2018 due to unplanned shutdowns of some propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants. For most of the second half of 2018, propylene prices in the United States rose due to the failure of some PDH units and the limited production of propylene in cracking units.
Although production of PDH units in the United States may continue to be unstable in 2019, propylene production from cracking units rebounded at the end of 2018, a trend that is likely to continue until 2019.
For most of 2018, propylene production in the cracking unit decreased, mainly due to the increased use of ethane raw materials in the cracking unit, which limited the production of propylene by-products.
With the new cracking plant in the United States put into operation in March and July 2018, domestic ethylene supply in the United States increased dramatically, leading to a sharp drop in ethylene prices.
Low ethylene prices have squeezed the profit margins of American cracking plants, prompting them to use more ethane, which is the most economical raw material for ethylene production. For most of 2018, strong crude oil prices supported the prices of heavier raw materials such as naphtha, propane and butane, which often made cracking heavier raw materials uneconomical.
In mid-2018, ethane accounted for more than 75% of the raw materials of cracking plants in the United States, up from 60% in the previous year.
At the end of 2018, the price of crude oil fell and the profit margin of cracking unit increased, which improved the economy of heavy cracking raw materials. Crude oil prices are not expected to rise substantially in 2019, which may maintain the economic feasibility of heavy cracking raw materials.
Due to the strong demand for U.S. fuel exports, especially for Mexico, U.S. refineries will maintain a high start-up rate in 2019, so propylene production from refineries is expected to remain strong.
| Benzalkonium chloride |
The most actively traded COMEX March copper contract fell $0.0105 to close at $2.6370 per pound.
| Sodium Molybdate |
China said on Monday that it has “sincerely” cooperated with the United States to resolve trade frictions.
US Commerce Secretary Ross said on Monday that the United States and China may reach a good solution on direct trade issues, and it is more difficult to reach an agreement on structural trade issues and implementation. The United States and China resumed trade talks on Monday.
According to data released by the Chilean central bank, Chile’s copper exports in the year of 2018 increased by 4.7% year-on-year, due to better performance in the industry, but Sino-US trade tensions affected the performance of copper prices in the second half of the year.
However, copper exports in December fell 13.6% from the same period of the previous year to 3.489 billion US dollars, one of the few months affected by the trade war.
| Benzalkonium chloride |
According to central bank data, the country’s copper exports for the full year of 2018 were 36.494 billion US dollars, and the total export value was 75.482 billion US dollars.
Next week, crude oil is expected to rebound in consolidation, and the price of pure benzene may rebound. However, the overall range may be limited. In terms of imports, due to the large price difference in the previous period, the follow-up US dollar supply will continue to arrive, and the domestic pure benzene inventory is highly predictable. In addition, the current Asian pure benzene contract price in January is still lower than the US$125/ton drop in December 18, making The domestic price of pure benzene is still rising. On the whole, in the short term, pure benzene or a weak rebound will remain the mainstay.
| Benzalkonium chloride |