Chemical Prices Today (October 23, 2026): Daily Market Trends & Price Changes

Basic Chemicals: 349 lines, 65 moved (34 up / 31 down), 284 frozen. Only 16 of those prints are corroborated by their weekly clock at the one-percent level or better; the rest are quote resets inside a shelf that mostly held still. The genuine gains head: formic acid +9.52%, diethylene glycol +3.33% (weekly +7.50% — the confirmed leg), propylene +3.52% (weekly against it, monthly +7.12%: a recovery print, not a trend print), styrene +2.53%, acetone +1.96%, phenol +1.14%, butyl acetate's feed n-butanol absent from the sheet while its aldehyde fell 19%. The genuine markdowns: butanal -19.05%, tetradecane -10.45%, lithium hydroxide -4.82% (a fifth leg), chlorodifluoromethane -3.03%, vinyl acetate -3.07%, Bisphenol A -1.11%. The showcase base events sit here too: mineral oil +40.72% (fifth unstable print), DCM +8.46% (base rewrite), liquid argon +9.41% on a weekly clock of +164.86% (a reset, not a rally), and boron trichloride -39.06% against a weekly +33.33%.

The oxo split is the story of the basic board. One propylene molecule, two destinations, opposite prices: tracked propylene +3.52% to CNY 10,578/ton on the barrel's return, while its first-stage oxide-aldehyde butanal fell 19.05% to CNY 5,100/ton — and the sister ester feed butyl acetate held frozen at CNY 8,050/ton with a -1.73% week, meaning the downstream did not bank the cost gift, it simply has not repriced yet. The margin arithmetic in third-party Shandong reporting says the n-butanol plant is already running at a small loss against spot propylene; the catalogue shows the aldehyde giving up 11 points it had never properly earned (monthly still +2.23%). Read together: the new-capacity expectation is doing what new capacity always does — attacking the intermediate first, the ester second. 2-Ethylhexanol's shelf (not separately tracked here) and isobutyl chloroformate -1.69% confirm the reduction-branch tone. The one place the tert-butyl branch goes up is pivalic acid +17.09% (logged on the fine shelf) — producer-decided, feed-contradicted, and worth watching whether NPG follows or refuses.

The chlorinated complex: one real rally, one rewritten base, one frozen sixth session. 1,3-Dichlorobenzene +17.81% (weekly +3.51%, monthly -2.23%) is the genuine member of the family — an old herbicide-intermediate line whose rise has been visible for a week and is probably agro-chain restocking against the winter formulation schedule; it belongs to the fine shelf but it is the same chlorobenzene plant network. Dichloromethane's +8.46% is not a rally: today's file restates the October 22 print from 2,845 to 2,623 and prices 2,845 again — against the published level the solvent held; the give-back arithmetic continues underneath (weekly -10.74%, monthly +25.73%). Chloroform entered its sixth consecutive frozen session at CNY 2,600/ton with the +10.45% month untouched; chlorodifluoromethane slipped -3.03% to CNY 21,333/ton (weekly -4.08%, monthly -2.32%) — the refrigerant feed quietly ending its winter bid. Methanol added 0.60% to CNY 4,017/ton, a third consecutive gain, monthly +9.48%: the coal floor keeps hardening beneath a C1 complex whose margin squeeze (chloro-methane, oxo alike) is now the sector's central fact.

The energy-solvent shelf printed its quiet members. Tetradecane -10.45% (weekly -5.22%) led a genuine markdown group that the full-library scan only sees because it reads the whole catalogue: this is a specialty-solvent line inside the paraffinic shelf whose give-back follows crude's own October swings rather than product demand. Industrial White Oil No. 15 -2.13% to CNY 9,200/ton continues the rubber-oil markdown against a carbon black shelf that has not blinked; No. 120 solvent naphtha +1.30% and naphtha light alkylate +0.57% are the aromatics-feed lines confirming the barrel pass-through from below. Octane -4.49% carries a weekly clock of +0.25% — a reset, filed. Diethylene glycol +3.33% against a weekly +7.50% and a monthly -27.61% is the clearest confirmed bounce-off-the-bottom on the board: the polyester-side intermediate has given back more than a quarter of the autumn in a month and is now climbing out of the hole on glycol-chain spread repair, not on demand news.

The mineral-and-battery shelf stayed inside its own stories. Nickel -1.83% to CNY 121,567/ton ended the four-session denial-rally — Shanghai 2612 settled 120,580 (-1.43%), CITIC's post-mortem called it an emotion repair shorter than imagined, and the cost floor (MHP economics, Indonesian ore benchmark at USD 61 with a negative premium) is the only part of the story that survives; weekly still +2.37%, monthly -4.44%. Lithium carbonate held CNY 98,000/ton for the first pause of its decline cycle while Guangzhou 2701 touched 90,880 intraday — a basis of roughly 5,170 in spot's favor beginning to close from the futures side; the monthly clock at -18.70% is the board's deepest commodity month. Lithium hydroxide fell 4.82% to CNY 79,000/ton — a fifth consecutive markdown, steepening, weekly -6.10%, monthly -19.95% — the hydroxide line refusing to let the carbonate's pause be read as a turn; lithium hexafluorophosphate -2.75% (fine shelf) confirms the electrolyte chain along the whole way. Cobalt -0.94% to CNY 232,900/ton, a fifth and steeper leg. The sulphur shelf printed its own verdict on the acid board: sulfur frozen at CNY 5,714/ton (weekly -15.54%) with Dongming's one-session raise unrepeated, sulfuric acid frozen with a -8.44% month, and sodium dithionite -16.31% (fine shelf) as the demand casualty: reduction bleaching has no bid while the textile off-season holds.

Frozen-premium watch, library edition. The catalogue makes the scale of the non-market explicit: 82 frozen lines carry monthly clocks of eight percent or worse, from calcium aluminate powder (+40.68%) and potassium bromide (+38.61%) down through the established commodity list — acetic anhydride +9.96% (sixth session, weekly clock now exactly 0%), chloroform +10.45%, p-xylene +9.78%, o-xylene +7.92%, ethylene oxide +7.93%, cyclohexane +6.87%. The aniline-family carries the strongest commodity month on the organic board ( aniline frozen +13.52%, weekly +3.61%, a third session at CNY 16,600/ton). And the nitrogen/fertiliser shelf stayed inert one more session: urea -0.29% to CNY 1,735/ton, ammonium nitrate flat at 4,150, ammonium sulfate 1,230, potassium chloride 3,217. Chlor-alkali printed nothing new: calcium carbide frozen a fourth session at CNY 2,530/ton, caustic soda 627, hydrochloric acid 185. The give-back that began in solvents still has not arrived here; when it does, expect the DCM shape — pause, leg, double digits.

Fine Chemicals: 2,532 lines, 156 moved (86 up / 70 down). This is where the full-library view changes the story: 92 of the shelf's moves above one percent carry weekly clocks that contradict them — the single largest concentration of unconfirmed prints on the board, including every headline number the raw ranking sells: tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphate +200%, ethyl diphenylphosphinite +162.5%, 2-amino-4,6-dimethoxypyrimidine +130%, vinylmagnesium chloride +113.5%, polypropylene glycol diamine +103.6%, dibutyl phosphate +97.8%. These are small-lot catalogue quotes snapping back to their historical levels, not trades. The weekly-confirmed fine board is short and directional: pivalic acid +17.09%, 1,3-dichlorobenzene +17.81%, tetramethylurea +15.65%, 2,6-dimethylaniline +10.95% and di-n-octyl phthalate +10.96% up; sodium dithionite -16.31%, methyl cinnamate -15.61%, 3-chlorobenzoyl chloride -13.01%, p-toluidine -9.97% and dibasic ester -9.31% down. Another 55 frozen fine lines carry weekly clocks of five percent or worse — the quiet drift the daily column never used to show.

The reduction-bleach chain is the fine board's real markdown. Sodium dithionite fell 16.31% to CNY 5,900/ton (weekly -4.93%) and sodium metabisulfite took its fifth consecutive leg, -1.42% to CNY 3,677/ton (weekly -3.36%) — two products of the same sulphur dioxide liquor, now falling together while their feed complex sits frozen: tracked sulfur unchanged at CNY 5,714/ton with a weekly clock at -15.54%, sulfuric acid frozen with a -8.44% month. Hebei trade quotes had industrial metabisulfite opening the month's second week at 3,800/ton, -50 on the day, explicitly blamed on upstream cost relief — the board is now simply finishing that sentence. The demand side offers no rescue: textile finishing (dithionite's largest vat-dye and bleach-reduction job) is in its off-season trough, and paper pulping is running on peroxide economics — hydrogen peroxide itself frozen at CNY 720/ton with a +3.47% month is the competing bleach winning the share argument. A -16% day in a chain whose every input is falling is not panic; it is the market re-marking what a tonne of reduction capacity earns in October.

The aromatic-intermediate cluster turned up together, and the weekly clocks caught it. 1,3-Dichlorobenzene +17.81% (weekly +3.51%) — herbicide-intermediate restocking against the winter formulation schedule; 2,6-dimethylaniline +10.95% (weekly +5.18%, the dimethyl aniline feed of glyphosate-line intermediates) — same agro-clock, same direction; p-toluidine -9.97% (weekly -0.75%) split from its chloro siblings on MDI/bladder chemistry's own demand; TDI +4.65% to CNY 16,150/ton (weekly +1.58%) printed against it — the toluene-diisocyanate complex refusing one direction; 3-chlorobenzoyl chloride -13.01% after the meta-chloro chain's four-leg slide. The pattern the library makes visible: money is not leaving aromatics, it is moving inside them — from the lines whose downstream is polyester (stressed) to the lines whose downstream is agrochemical formulation (seasonal bid).

Perfume-and-ester shelf gave back its September. Methyl cinnamate -15.61% (weekly -9.08%) — the fragrance ester in a fourth visible slide; dibasic ester -9.31% (weekly -6.58%, monthly still +39.62%) — the paint-solvent trio's longest give-back, now two legs deep; emulsifier OP-10 -5.63% and DEGME (-diethylene glycol monobutyl ether) -2.11% confirm the coating-chain solvent shelf from three sides at once. Against them, tetramethylurea +15.65% (weekly +1.89%) — the specialty polar solvent that follows PVDF/spinning demand, not paint — and 2-butoxyethanol +4.88% (weekly +1.71%, monthly +6.02%) printed genuine gains: even inside glycol ethers, the market is separating the chains by their end-use, not their family.

The battery-and-additive shelf kept bleeding. Lithium hexafluorophosphate -2.75% to CNY 106,000/ton (weekly -4.93%) — fifth consecutive markdown against carbonate's pause; decabromodiphenylethane +4.21% (weekly +0.94%, monthly -1.16%) is the flame-retardant shelf's genuine print; tetrabromobisphenol A's +58.82% fails the weekly test (-4.20% against it) and is filed as a base reset. Cyclopentanecarboxylic acid -8.92% (weekly -5.99%, monthly -3.68%) keeps sliding on the pharmaceutical-intermediate shelf; trimethylsilyl iodide -8.16% (weekly -6.32%) confirms the reagent shelf's repricing. The DBU-family quiet drift (1,5-diazabicyclononene frozen at a +29.60% month, weekly -16.83%) and sodium iodide frozen at a weekly +55.95% clock are precisely the lines only the library scan exposes — stale quotes with live trend underneath, flagged for review.

Energy, Rubber, Plastics and Other: 126 lines, 30 moved (23 up / 7 down), 96 frozen. The genuine motion: Brent +3.67% to USD 113 and WTI +2.06% to USD 99 leading a barrel shelf that finally re-locked with the settlements; gasoline +0.47% reclaiming the round handle; tetradecane -10.45% (logged basic) and the paraffinic trio's -9.5/-10% give-backs; ABS +1.91% (a fifth consecutive gain), PP powder +3.32%, PVC SG-5 +1.57% and HDPE +0.80% printing the first up-for-up plastics session of the window; asphalt -0.47% and foundry sand -23.08% (weekly +3.80%: reset, filed). Rubber stayed near-inert for a ninth session: natural rubber +0.82% was the only print; carbon black and silica sat frozen.

The barrel board: physical escalation, paper lag. The tracked lines did their re-locking — WTI +2.06% to USD 99, Brent +3.67% to USD 113 — one session after mines disabled two fully-laden supertankers in the southern Hormuz lane (4.5 million barrels aboard), while NYMEX December settled USD 103.27 (+3.82%) and Brent printed a five-month high on the settlements. UKMTO's weekly count held strait transits at 241, roughly seventy percent below the pre-conflict baseline, threat level severe. For chemical buyers the basis question is the whole question: the sheet climbs toward the market, and every domestic line that spent last week decoupling from USD 97 now has to re-decide what it does at USD 103. The domestic energy shelf answered where formulas force the answer — gasoline +0.47% to CNY 10,041/ton, naphtha light alkylate +0.57%, No. 120 solvent naphtha +1.30% — and where they don't, it didn't: kerosene frozen at 8,500, asphalt -0.47% to CNY 5,920/ton as the northern road-closing season keeps beating the crude curve in that one product. The paraffinic markdowns ( hexadecane -9.55%, heptadecane -9.55%, octadecane -10.00%, weekly clocks all near -5%) are specialty-line give-backs of October's spike — confirmed by their own weeks, and therefore real.

Plastics joined the up-for-up session on spread, not demand. ABS added 1.91% to CNY 12,507/ton — a fifth consecutive gain (weekly +2.65%, monthly +5.5%), the engineering-resin margin story still compounding against collapsing acrylic feedstocks. PP powder +3.32% to CNY 10,900/ton led the homo/copoly shelf (copolymer +1.11%, homopolymer +0.99% — three grades up in one session for the first time this window). PVC SG-5 +1.57% to CNY 5,041/ton (weekly +3.53%) extended the carbide-route calendar bid while calcium carbide itself stayed frozen a fourth session at 2,530 — the resin is repricing a head away from its feedstock, a spread this column has logged since the window opened. HDPE +0.80% to CNY 11,038/ton printed its first gain after four frozen sessions. The frozen-polymer frame held: EVA +4.76% month, EPDM +5.77% month, PP pellet grade M800E +5.88% month — quotes parked on October premiums, not broken, with the DCM template overhead. Rubber's ninth still frame ended with a single print ( natural rubber +0.82% to CNY 19,325/ton, monthly +4.96% on the tyre-season tail); carbon black frozen at 10,807/ton and the white-oil markdown above are the two lines the tyre chain is actually repricing.

What a 3,007-line board adds up to. The scan's central finding is a ratio: for every genuine move the weekly clock corroborates, there are roughly three prints it cannot — 51 of the 66 loudest daily prints on the board fail the corroboration test, and they are concentrated in exactly one place: the long tail of a 2,532-line fine-chemicals catalogue where single-lot quotes reset against stale bases. A full-library feed is therefore a better market instrument only if the reading discipline comes with it — rank on corroboration, not on magnitude. Done that way, October 23 was a session where the barrel came back and the intermediates split: crude re-priced (+2.06% tracked, December settled +3.82%), BTX and olefins and plastics turned up with it, and the n-oxo chain — feedstock of the barrel's own child products — fell 19% anyway, because margin compression and new-capacity expectation outrank a rally in USD. The genuine advancers were producer-decided or seasonally backed (formic's Luxi list raise, pivalic's margin grab, the agro-aromatics' winter formulation clock, DOP's weekly-confirmed squeeze); the genuine markdowns were all demand-shaped (dithionite in the textile trough, metabisulfite's fifth leg, hexafluorophosphate's bleed, the fragrance-ester give-back). Three housekeeping items, unchanged: mineral oil's fifth unstable print (fix it or drop it), the THF polymer line's second October reset (merchant THF held at CNY 12,650 the entire session; the 21,750 print is not a market), and the argon +9.41% / boron trichloride -39.06% pair whose weekly clocks read +164.86% and +33.33% — resets wearing rally costumes. A board with 2,756 freezes is still a market agreeing to wait — but on the lines that actually trade, it is now waiting in an up direction, and the cost-push argument the domestic tape spent last week refusing to hear is back in USD 103.27 language.