Carbon Black Daily: Failed-Auction Signal Emerges, Countdown to Price Cuts Begins
Carbon Black Index
According to Toodudu's data calculations, the carbon black price index stood at 7,459 on August 12, unchanged from the previous trading day.
Carbon Black Price Index Trend (chart reproduced from the original article)
Carbon Black Market Prices
Market Impact Analysis
1. Upstream raw materials: Coal tar prices stood at CNY 4,270/ton in Shandong, CNY 4,420/ton in Shanxi and CNY 4,310/ton in Hebei. Bearish sentiment in the domestic high-temperature coal tar market is building, and resistance to higher coal tar prices is growing. The market is expected to enter a downward channel.
2. Carbon black supply: The operating rate of sampled carbon black producers rose slightly. A plant in Shanxi is under maintenance, some major producers raised their operating loads, and some plants in East China adjusted operating rates according to order conditions. Overall, regional operating rates edged up, but only to a limited extent.
3. Downstream demand: It is understood that some sampled enterprises, constrained by external factors, still have maintenance plans in the near term. Facilities that completed earlier maintenance are resuming operations one after another, and the industry's periodic maintenance phase continues, keeping overall supply in a weak pattern. Early this month, a few enterprises offered small price cuts to stimulate shipments, but the effect was limited: inventories are being worked down slowly, and production and sales remain under pressure.
Outlook
So far, after two consecutive failed auctions of coal tar in Anhui Linhuan, bearish sentiment in the high-temperature coal tar market has kept building, weakening cost-side support. Downstream negotiations are few and buyers increasingly prefer to wait for lower prices, leaving new-order talks in the carbon black market deadlocked. Overall, no significant drop in new carbon black orders has emerged yet, but moving goods at high prices is difficult, and new orders are expected to be subject to downward adjustment from current high levels.
