2. Market Review

China’s PP market prices trended downwards this week, and the weekly average price slid. The difference among raffia-grade PP prices in various regions of China shrank slightly. In terms of variety, the price spread between raffia and low-MFR copolymer diminished. The production share of PP raffia slid slightly, leading to short supply. Thus, the price downward range of raffia was narrower than that of low-MFR copolymer. This week, downstream enterprises suspended production consecutively for the Spring Festival holiday, resulting in reduced demand for PP and tepid deals. Facing slack sales, PP producers cut back EXW offers. In addition, crude oil prices registered a continuous decline, and the PP futures prices lost ground, weighing down the market sentiment. Traders mainly delivered previous orders and presold post-holiday resources in the week. Generally, PP market prices went down amid softened fundamentals.

As of January 23, 2025, the weekly average price of PP raffia was RMB 7,420/mt in East China, down RMB 29/mt or 0.39% WOW.

3. Market Forecast

SCI predicts that China’s PP market prices may perform weakly after the Spring Festival holiday. Taking East China as an example, PP raffia prices are assessed to be RMB 7,250-7500/mt and may average RMB 7,370/mt next week. Meanwhile, low-MFR copolymer prices will probably linger at RMB 7,450-7,800/mt, and its average price may be RMB 7,630/mt. Crude oil values are likely to perform poorly next week, cutting the cost support for PP prices. As for fundamentals, PP supply is likely to climb due to the capacity release and less unit maintenance, while the downstream demand may weaken notably with the holidays underway. Therefore, PP prices will probably be range-bound before the holidays. After the holidays, producers and traders are supposed to curtail offers to promote deals and ease inventory pressure. That may drag down the PP market price.