Shipping Crisis Escalates: Domestic Chemical Industry Chain Faces Comprehensive Price Hikes

2026-03-04 15:57:03Source: ChemNet中文

Recently, due to the rapid escalation of the Middle East situation and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes, global energy and chemical supply expectations have tightened sharply. The domestic chemical futures market has experienced widespread consecutive limit-up gains, with core varieties such as crude oil, fuel oil, and methanol recording cumulative increases of over 10% in two days. The rapid rise in costs has formed a complete price transmission chain. Leading companies such as Wanhua Chemical, Luxi Chemical, and Sinopec have intensively raised product prices, pushing the entire chemical industry into a phase of cost pressure and widespread price increases.

I. Futures Market Surges Across the Board, Multiple Varieties Rise Over 10% in Two Days

As a crucial passage for approximately 30% of global seaborne crude oil and over one-third of methanol trade, the obstruction of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz has directly impacted China’s highly import-dependent energy and chemical system. The domestic futures market reacted sharply, with varieties such as crude oil, fuel oil, methanol, LPG, plastics, polypropylene, ethylene glycol, propylene, and pure benzene collectively surging. Among them:

Crude oil and fuel oil main contracts hit limit-up for two consecutive days, with cumulative increases exceeding 10%;

Methanol main contracts rose continuously for two days, with cumulative gains breaking 10%, making it one of the core leading varieties in this round of market trends;

Downstream chemical products such as polypropylene, polyethylene, ethylene glycol, and propylene followed suit, showing a strong pattern across the entire sector.

Market participants indicated that this rally was driven by three factors: supply disruption expectations, soaring logistics costs, and cost-side resonance, with varieties highly dependent on Middle Eastern supplies showing particularly pronounced elasticity.

II. Full Industry Chain Price Transmission Forms Five Major Lines Under Comprehensive Pressure

As the “mother of chemicals,” the price increase effect of crude oil quickly transmitted downstream, forming a clear industrial chain price transmission chain covering five core lines: methanol, polyester, pure benzene-propylene, plastics, and MDI-phosphorus chemicals. Costs have risen across the entire industry:

Methanol Industry Chain: Methanol → Formaldehyde → Acetic Acid, soaring raw material costs directly push up downstream processing costs;

Polyester Industry Chain: PTA → Ethylene Glycol → Polyester Filament → Short Fiber, textile and chemical fiber raw materials face comprehensive pressure;

Pure Benzene-Propylene Chain: Pure Benzene → Propylene → High Styrene → Phenol Ketone → Propylene Oxide, both aromatic and olefin lines experience price increases;

Plastics Sector: Polyethylene (PE) → Polypropylene (PP) → ABS, raw material costs for packaging and injection molding industries climb;

MDI-Phosphorus Chemicals: Polymeric MDI → TDI → Phosphate Rock and Phosphates, polyurethane and phosphate fertilizer sectors follow suit with price increases.

III. Enterprises Intensively Adjust Prices, Leading Companies Take the Lead in Raising Prices to Counter Cost Pressure

Facing soaring raw material costs, domestic chemical industry leaders intensively issued price adjustment notices in early March, covering varieties such as styrene, trichloromethane, phenol, urea, propylene oxide, and pure benzene, with adjustments ranging from 30 yuan/ton to 500 yuan/ton:

Wanhua Chemical: Styrene raised by 250 yuan/ton (early March);

Luxi Chemical: Trichloromethane raised by 250 yuan/ton (March 4);

Sinopec North China: Phenol raised by 500 yuan/ton (March 3);

Lihuayi Weiyuan: Phenol and styrene raised by 270-300 yuan/ton (March 2);

Hualu Hengsheng: Urea raised by 30 yuan/ton (March 2);

Binzhou Chemical / Xinyue: Propylene oxide raised by 150-200 yuan/ton (March 2);

Dongming Petrochemical: Pure benzene and sulfur raised by 100-160 yuan/ton (March 2).

The industry pointed out that this round of price adjustments is primarily cost-driven. To alleviate the pressure of rising raw material costs and ensure stable production, companies were forced to raise ex-factory prices. Downstream processing, manufacturing, textile, and packaging industries will gradually bear the cost pressure.

IV. Market Outlook: Geopolitical Risks Persist, Chemical Prices Remain Strong

Currently, there are no signs of easing in the Middle East situation, and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz remains highly uncertain. Coupled with the recovery in demand for resumption of work and production in China in March, the supply and demand dynamics for chemicals remain tight.

In the short term, core varieties such as crude oil and methanol will continue to be dominated by geopolitical events, with prices prone to rise rather than fall. If the shipping lanes remain closed in the medium term, the gap in imported supplies will further widen, potentially prolonging the period of high domestic chemical prices. Profit distribution along the industrial chain will tilt toward the raw material end, and cost pressures on downstream enterprises will continue to intensify.

https://news.chemnet.com/news-2790.html