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MORNING BRIEFING

CommoPlast                 Friday, 25 September 2026

                                                                                                                             commoplast.com

MARKET MOVEMENT

Closing prices, previous trading day. Monomers are unavailable today due to Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations.                            

TODAY’S DEVELOPMENTS

POLYVINYL CHLORIDE · CHINA

China's PVC market splits as exports firm while domestic prices sag

China's PVC complex showed a clear split this week, with export offers firming even as domestic spot prices softened under weak energy benchmarks and a pre-holiday buyer standstill. Warehouse inventories fell below a key threshold for the first time in a year.

The main highlight this week is from the export side as it now faces a fresh complication after the EU launched an anti-dumping probe into Chinese PVC, adding to existing trade friction in other key markets just as producers lean more on overseas volume.

With converters largely absent ahead of the holidays and new barriers building around export outlets, expect prices to stay range-bound into October, with clearer direction only likely once trade resumes and the trade situation firms up.

STATISTICS·  CHINA

China's August data points to a supply-driven recovery, but demand remains uneven

China's PE and PVC markets expanded local production in August even as feedstock costs rallied for a ninth straight week since late June, squeezing the margins behind that output. Two-thirds of the oil and naphtha based PE fleet ran cash-negative for the month, with cheaper coal and ethane routes setting the floor price the rest of the fleet is now forced to compete against. PVC's gain traced to a narrower group of top-tier producers who recovered enough margin to lift run rates, while a fresh wave of turnarounds capped how far that recovery could run.

PP's output also rose but its exports stayed weak, a combination that would typically have pressured prices lower, yet PP rallied through August regardless. That divergence points to feedstock costs, not supply-demand balance, as the actual price driver, an indicator that the market had decoupled from its usual fundamentals, a break that has persisted into this month.

Underpinning all three markets is the same shift: import reliance keeps eroding as domestic capacity continues to expand and cover more of the domestic market.

Read full story:

Statistics: China's PP market consolidates domestically in August as export channels stay constrained

Statistics: China’s August PE apparent consumption tops 3.1M tons as ag-film surge masks margin rift

Statistics: China's PVC output and exports rose in August, but domestic demand kept lagging

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