Chemical Prices Today (October 10, 2026): Daily Market Trends & Price Changes

Basic chemicals saw 22 of 70 tracked products move, 16 higher and 6 lower, a materially calmer session than Thursday's 33-mover sweep but still unambiguously positive in direction. The strongest gains were PX up 6.06% to CNY 10,500/ton, ethyl acetate up 5.28% to CNY 6,658/ton, Formaldehyde up 4.40% to CNY 1,945/ton, Aniline up 3.29% to CNY 15,700/ton, Propylene up 2.43% to CNY 10,541/ton, Sulfur up 1.95% to CNY 7,536/ton, Heptane up 1.23% to CNY 16,400/ton, Toluene up 1.13% to CNY 8,983/ton and Propylene glycol up 1.09% to CNY 9,250/ton, with smaller advances in Phenol at CNY 9,425/ton, White phosphorus at CNY 28,000/ton, Acetic anhydride at CNY 7,240/ton, Xylene at CNY 8,760/ton, Benzene at CNY 10,568/ton and PET at CNY 9,047/ton. Declines were led by Dichloromethane down 2.84% to CNY 2,699/ton, Ammonium chloride down 2.54% to CNY 845/ton and calcium carbide down 1.55% to CNY 2,540/ton, with Potassium nitrate down 1.08% to CNY 4,588/ton, Acetone off 0.29% to CNY 8,713/ton and Methanol off 0.39% to CNY 4,828/ton.

Paraxylene produced the cleanest single-name story of the day. Sinopec's sales company raised its list price by CNY 600/ton to CNY 10,500/ton across East, North, Central and South China simultaneously, with Yangzi and Zhenhai running steadily and moving product normally, and every major producer — Jinling, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hainan — now quoting the same CNY 10,500/ton. That is a pricing-benchmark event, not a marginal spot trade, and it dragged the futures curve higher on improved long sentiment. The tracked assessment moved in lockstep, up 6.06% to CNY 10,500/ton and now 5.61% higher on the month. The pass-through shows clearly in the polyester chain: PTA held at CNY 7,736.75/ton and bottle-grade PET firmed 4.15% on the week to CNY 9,046.67/ton, so the upstream and downstream ends of the polyester chain are now moving together after a period of margin compression. Ethyl acetate added 5.28% to CNY 6,658/ton, the second consecutive daily advance, building on East China and North China producer increases and taking the monthly gain to 7.99%.

Aniline rose 3.29% to CNY 15,700/ton and the move is fully corroborated producer by producer: Shandong Jinling raised CNY 500/ton to CNY 15,700/ton, Jiangsu Fuqiang by the same amount to CNY 15,700/ton, Dongying Huatai to CNY 15,700/ton cash or CNY 15,800/ton acceptance, and Chongqing Changfeng to CNY 15,900/ton, all with plants running normally and sales described as smooth. That is a coordinated, plant-level repricing rather than a single quote, and it lifts the monthly gain to 9.01% and the annual gain past 90%. Formaldehyde gained 4.40% to CNY 1,945/ton as Shandong Lianyi lifted its ex-works quote to CNY 2,000/ton and other regional producers followed on methanol cost pass-through, extending the monthly gain to 8.39%; the caution here is that downstream resin producers are resisting the higher numbers, so follow-through may be limited. Propylene moved up 2.43% to CNY 10,541/ton, confirmed by a wave of Shandong refinery increases — Dongying Hualian up CNY 300/ton to CNY 10,503/ton, Qicheng up CNY 290/ton to CNY 10,500/ton, Shenchi up CNY 300/ton to CNY 10,503/ton and Haike up CNY 200/ton to CNY 10,520/ton — and the weekly Shandong propylene gain of 5.66% makes it the second-best performing plastic-chain input in the country. Propylene glycol added 1.09% to CNY 9,250/ton, reversing most of yesterday's decline.

The aromatics complex firmed modestly across the board. Toluene added 1.13% to CNY 8,983/ton against a Sinopec South China list of CNY 9,250/ton and East China spot of CNY 9,000–9,100/ton, with domestic inventory low, supply tight and sellers holding firm offers. The downstream-wide benzene benchmark rose 0.63% to CNY 10,567.67/ton, keeping the whole aromatics strip in a high-sideways channel. Heptane rose 1.23% to CNY 16,400/ton on solvent demand, and Sulfur added 1.95% to CNY 7,536/ton, recovering most of Thursday's decline in line with the benchmark's 1.9% advance to CNY 7,535.67/ton. Methanol, the product that drove Thursday's entire session, was unchanged in the tracked table and actually eased 0.38% to CNY 4,828.33/ton on the benchmark, the first sign this week that the squeeze has stopped extending. Elsewhere Acetic acid held at CNY 4,860/ton, Ethylene glycol at CNY 6,266.67/ton, Titanium dioxide at CNY 14,220/ton, Soda ash at CNY 1,050/ton and Caustic soda at CNY 633/ton for 32% liquid lye.

The declines are worth reading as a set because they all sit in chlor-alkali and the fertiliser-linked salts. Dichloromethane fell 2.84% to CNY 2,699/ton after two strong sessions, retracing part of a monthly gain that still stands at 18.98%; the product had run hard on Shandong producer increases and the current level is a partial give-back rather than a reversal. Ammonium chloride dropped 2.54% to CNY 845/ton, consistent with the seasonal fade in autumn fertiliser restocking, and it is now 4.81% lower on the month. calcium carbide slipped 1.55% to CNY 2,540/ton, and this is the divergence worth flagging: the Wuhai carbide benchmark actually rose CNY 50/ton, or 2.08%, to CNY 2,450/ton, while the industry commentary attributes recent carbide weakness to restored power supply in Inner Mongolia, restarted furnaces and heavy maintenance-driven outages among PVC producers. The tracked line and the regional spot quote are on different bases, so the two readings should not be averaged. Potassium nitrate eased 1.08% to CNY 4,588/ton. Overall the segment remains in a cost-push regime led by crude, PX and propylene, with methanol finally pausing and chlor-alkali the main source of weakness.

Fine chemicals were again the quietest segment, with only 7 of 38 products moving — three higher and four lower — and every change small in absolute terms apart from the trichloroethylene advance. Trichloroethylene led at plus 6.22% to CNY 4,900/ton, discussed above, followed by Potassium permanganate up 3.23% to CNY 16,000/ton and Tetrahydrofuran up 2.63% to CNY 19,500/ton. The decliners were Potassium Citrate down 4.00% to CNY 8,400/ton, Retinol down 1.82% to CNY 54/kg, dimethyl carbonate down 1.62% to CNY 6,067/ton and sodium acetate off 0.25% to CNY 5,629/ton. Both Potassium permanganate and Retinol are lines added to tracking this edition, so their first readings should be treated as indicative only.

Potassium Citrate was the largest faller in the segment, down 4.00% to CNY 8,400/ton, and it is the only fine-chemical line whose decline is large enough to matter. The product had been climbing through October, reaching CNY 8,750/ton on October 8 and holding through October 9 before this correction, and it remains 0.46% higher on the week. Potassium citrate is a food-acidulant and pharmaceutical excipient driven by citrus pricing and by potassium salt availability, and the move is consistent with a normalisation after an over-extended week rather than a demand shock. Tetrahydrofuran gained 2.63% to CNY 19,500/ton, a new high for the month and 11.93% above the level a month ago, confirming the re-rating away from the CNY 17,000–17,250/ton band the product occupied in late September. dimethyl carbonate gave back 1.62% to CNY 6,067/ton, a modest unwind of a methanol-driven advance, with industry-grade material still assessed several hundred yuan higher than this tracked basis.

Dimethyl sulfoxide held at CNY 10,850/ton for a third consecutive session and remains 3.44% higher on the month, so its consolidation is intact rather than deteriorating. Everything else in the segment was untouched: Hydroquinone held at CNY 30,500/ton, Mannitol at CNY 18,000/ton, Sodium polyacrylate at CNY 18,000/ton, Xanthan gum at CNY 21,000/ton, Guar gum at CNY 15,500/ton, glycolic acid at CNY 13,000/ton, Oleic acid at CNY 10,000/ton, azelaic acid at CNY 80,000/ton, Benzyl alcohol at CNY 18,500/ton, Cyanuric acid at CNY 7,650/ton, Lactic acid at CNY 8,163/ton, Quartz at CNY 6,800/ton, Melamine at CNY 6,325/ton, Sodium metabisulfite at CNY 3,903/ton, Ferric chloride at CNY 2,808/ton, Water softener salt at CNY 967/ton and Activated carbon at CNY 4,200/ton, with Magnesium glycinate at CNY 29,000/ton, Melatonin at CNY 850/kg, Strontium oxide at CNY 8,500/ton, Triclopyr at CNY 47,500/ton, tranexamic acid at CNY 330/kg, Clotrimazole at CNY 400,000/ton, calcium acetate at CNY 6,800/ton and chlorine tablets at CNY 8,500/ton all unchanged.

The practical read for fine-chemicals buyers is unchanged from Thursday: this segment is calm, contract-priced and offers no urgency to act. Only one line moved more than 4% in either direction, and the changes that did occur are consistent with normal give-and-take after an active week. The two items to keep watching are Tetrahydrofuran, where the monthly re-rating is now 11.93% and still building, and dimethyl carbonate, where the tracked basis sits below where the wider industry-grade market is trading. For the rest, the correct posture is to hold existing contract positions and let the domestic salt and acid markets settle.

Energy, Rubber, Plastic and other chemicals saw 8 of 17 products move, 6 higher and 2 lower, and the segment nonetheless produced two of the three headline prints of the session because of basket rotation. Polyvinyl chloride at CNY 5,650/ton and Anthracite at CNY 1,775/ton both sit in this table and both require the caveats set out in the cards above. The genuine gains were WTI Crude Oil up 1.10% to USD 92/barrel, HDPE up 1.05% to CNY 10,775/ton, ABS up 0.85% to CNY 11,833/ton and PVC up 0.62% to CNY 4,900/ton, while Asphalt eased 0.11% to CNY 6,258/ton and Gasoline slipped 0.20% to CNY 10,091/ton. Everything else held: Carbon at CNY 12,500/ton, Carbon Black at CNY 11,693/ton, Silica at CNY 6,400/ton, kerosene at CNY 8,200/ton, EAA at CNY 57,800/ton, POE at CNY 16,500/ton, Poly(vinyl acetate) at CNY 12/kg, Basalt at CNY 650/ton and anaerobic bacteria at CNY 50/kg, with no movement at all in the two rubber lines or the three other lines tracked.

WTI Crude Oil was marked at USD 92/barrel, up 1.10% in the tracked basket, against a November settlement of USD 91.85, up 36 cents or 0.39%, with December Brent at USD 104.72, up 44 cents or 0.42%. On the week Brent gained 2.4% and WTI 0.8%, and the Brent–WTI spread of roughly USD 12.87 has widened to the top of its recent range, which is itself a signal that the geopolitical premium is concentrated in the seaborne benchmark rather than in United States domestic crude. Three forces are in play. Hurricane Isaias shut in about 1.3 million barrels a day, or 70%, of Gulf of Mexico production as of Thursday, tightening the United States physical market. Tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz continued, with at least a dozen oil, LNG and LPG vessels attacked in the week to October 5 and nine incidents recorded by UKMTO so far this month, close to half of September's entire total, which is driving war-risk insurance and freight costs higher before it shows up in flat prices. And on the bearish side, President Trump said Washington was holding productive discussions with Iran and that no attack was planned before the November 3 midterm elections, while Russia agreed to supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately, a further 500,000 tonnes in November and 1 million tonnes thereafter, which knocked heating oil down as much as 5% after the settlement. Asian spot LNG for November delivery rose to USD 26.50 per million British thermal units, up from USD 25.25, and European storage sits at 73.12% full, the lowest for this time of year since records began in 2011.

The plastic chain is where the crude move is transmitting most visibly, and the BPI's rubber-and-plastics sector leading at plus 3.59% on the week is the cleanest evidence. LLDPE rose 2.52% to CNY 9,930/ton and PP raffia gained 2.02% to CNY 10,583.33/ton in the benchmark table, ABS 0215A in Yuyao added 4.93% on the week, bottle-grade PET rose 4.15% and PVC SG-5 in Changzhou advanced 2.39%. Within the tracked basket the polymer lines moved more modestly — HDPE up 1.05% to CNY 10,775/ton, ABS up 0.85% to CNY 11,833/ton and PVC up 0.62% to CNY 4,900/ton — but each sits on a solid weekly gain, so the direction is intact even where the daily print is small. The one genuine constraint is on the supply side: PVC capacity utilisation fell 2.49% to 66.74%, split between calcium carbide route at 72.27% and ethylene route at just 54.40%, as high feedstock costs pushed ethylene-based producers deeper into loss and prompted load cuts. calcium carbide easing to CNY 2,540/ton on the tracked basis lowers the cost floor for the carbide route, which is why the PVC market can rally on cost-push from the ethylene side while carbide costs fall away.

Overall, the Energy, Rubber, Plastic and other chemicals segment confirms that this remains a cost-push rally with a geopolitical trigger, and that it is now broadening from petrochemicals into the polymer converters and rubber processors. The BPI's leadership table tells the story precisely: rubber and plastics plus 3.59%, textiles plus 1.10%, chemicals plus 1.09%, energy plus 0.31%, while non-ferrous metals fell 1.39% and steel 0.60%. That split — materials consuming hydrocarbons up, metals and construction materials down — is a classic geopolitical energy shock passing through the petrochemical chain, not a broad industrial recovery. The counterweights remain: methanol has finally stopped rising, crude itself is flat to marginally higher rather than breaking out, the diesel relief from Russia removes one source of product tightness, and downstream converters are still resisting high prices and running reduced loads. The balance of risk into next week is a high plateau that holds only while the Hormuz premium and the Gulf shut-ins persist, with the October 13 OPEC monthly report and the October 14 IEA report the next scheduled catalysts.