CommoPlast Article

Shenhua Baotou Coal Chemical Co., China’s largest coal-based petrochemical producer, concluded its 9 October auction with lacklustre results, as continued weakness in futures trading weighed on buying interest across key polyolefin grades.

Product	Auction Volume	Deal Volume	Auction Prices		Deal Prices		Deal %
Product	Auction Volume	Deal Volume	CNY/ton	USD/ton	CNY/ton	USD/ton	Deal %
*Combined and reported by CommoPlast*
PPH Yarn	2066	700	6500	$807	6500-6790	$807-843	33.9%
PPBC inj	200	0	6450	$801	-	-	0.0%
LL Film	590	226	6900	$856	7030	$873	38.3%
Auction and Deal volumes are in tonnage All USD equivalent prices only exclude the 13% value-added tax (VAT). They have not taken into account other costs that might incur in the selling process, i.e. import duty, customs clearances.

Shenhua’s first trading session after the Golden Week holiday highlighted fragile market confidence, as PP and LLDPE futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange extended their decline during the morning session. The soft futures performance curtailed buying interest, particularly for block copolymer grades, which saw no concluded deals.

Homo-PP yarn achieved a modest clearance rate of 33.9%, with prices down by CNY 200/ton from the final pre-holiday auction. Despite the price adjustment, demand remained thin, reflecting limited restocking appetite among downstream converters. LLDPE film also faced weak interest, clearing less than 40% of offered volumes even after prices fell CNY 180/ton compared with pre-holiday levels.

Market participants characterised post-holiday sentiment as subdued, citing persistent uncertainty over near-term fundamentals. “The post-holiday atmosphere is understandably quiet,” one trader said. “But the bigger concern is Q4—without clear drivers for a rebound, selling conditions are likely to remain difficult.”

Shenhua Auction: Weak post-holiday confidence sap sell-through rates