On July 27, the crude benzene commodity index was 119.12, unchanged from yesterday, down 9.65% from 131.84, the highest point in the cycle (January 28, 2013), and up 290.05% from 30.54, the lowest point on April 8, 2020. (Note: the period refers to 2011-09-01 to now).

In July 2022, the crude benzene market fluctuated downward. The domestic ex factory price of crude benzene was 7805 yuan / ton at the beginning of the month and 7487 yuan / ton at the end of the month, with a monthly decrease of 4.07%.

Summary of Sinopec pure benzene price adjustment (unit: yuan / ton)

Date, adjusted price, adjusted amount

July 6, 9300, -300

July 14, 9150, -150

The ex factory price of Sinopec pure benzene was reduced twice in July 2022, with a total reduction of 450 yuan / ton. As of the press release, the implementation of Sinopec pure benzene was 9150 yuan / ton.

The crude oil market fell after the overall shock this month. As of the 27th, the international oil price rebounded overnight, WTI rose by more than 2%, and SC crude oil rose in the inner market. The main contract of SC crude oil rose by 4.05% to close at 678.5 yuan. Oil prices are still in a long and short tug of war, and the market is still worried about the Federal Reserve’s radical interest rate hike, leading to a standoff at the $100 level; However, oil prices were supported by supply tightening concerns and the weakening US dollar. In the future, the crude oil analyst of business news agency believes that in the short term, it is difficult to alleviate the supply shortage pattern. Although the Libyan supply may rise, the supply elasticity of opec+ as a whole is still relatively limited. In the later stage, it is difficult to continue to improve production capacity. Driven by the supply shortage, the oil price may still have the upper action force in the near future. However, in the medium term, due to the weak demand caused by the global central bank’s interest rate hike, there are still many obstacles to the rise of oil prices.

This month, the crude oil market fluctuated widely, and the overall trend was mainly downward. It drove the market price of pure benzene to decline in the first half of the month, and the price fell again after a slight rebound in the second half of the month. In the first half of the month, affected by the broad decline of crude oil, pure benzene in the external market followed the weakness, driving the focus of negotiation in the domestic market down. Due to the general transaction in Shandong, the price difference between Shandong and other regions widened, and the overall decline in the week was limited. Near the end of the month, the shipment of pure benzene in East China was tight, and the inventory of pure benzene in the port was low as a whole, with the inventory falling by 20000 tons in the week. The port has good enthusiasm for picking up goods, and the superposition of downstream purchase demand at the end of the month is acceptable. Pure benzene rebounded slightly after falling at the end of the month. However, the market expects the supply of pure benzene to increase in August, and poor negotiations on pure benzene in the far month limit the increase.

In terms of supply: after the four rounds of raising and lowering of coke prices, the current coking enterprises have suffered serious losses, and the coking enterprises have further increased their efforts to limit production, with most enterprises limiting production by 30-50%. With the strengthening of production restriction, the current overall supply of coke is tightening, and the output of related by-products fell significantly this month.

Crude benzene was less affected by the industrial chain than other products in the chain this month, and the fluctuation was not very large. The overall performance was high consolidation. The main reason is that the tight supply has boosted the bidding price, the coking enterprises have a strong price support mentality, the crude benzene inventory in the plant has remained low, and it is difficult to improve the supply in the short term in the future. With this factor, it is expected that the crude benzene price will remain high in the future.