I. Mid-to-Early October: Market Mainly in a Weak Downtrend
Concentrated Bearish Factors
PP futures fluctuated weakly, providing no support to the spot market. Upstream propylene faced lackluster shipments, with quoted prices falling more than rising, resulting in insufficient cost support for powder manufacturers.
Supply-Demand Imbalance
After the holiday, powder manufacturers’ operating rates rebounded, increasing market supply. However, downstream enterprises had already stocked up a small amount before the holiday; after the holiday, they only replenished stocks in small quantities, leading to underwhelming demand performance.
Price Decline
As of the 17th, the mainstream price range of PP powder in Shandong and North China was RMB 6,500 – 6,600 per ton, a month-on-month decrease of 2.96%. The mainstream price range in East China was RMB 6,600 – 6,700 per ton, a month-on-month decrease of 1.65%.
II. Key Indicator: PP Powder-Granule Price Spread Narrowed Slightly but Remained Low
Overall Trend
Both PP powder and PP granules showed a downward trend, but the decline range of PP powder was wider, leading to a slight rebound in the price spread between the two.
Core Issue
As of the 17th, the average price spread between the two was only RMB 10 per ton. PP powder still faced disadvantages in shipments; downstream enterprises mostly chose granules instead of powder when purchasing raw materials, resulting in limited support for new orders of PP powder.
III. Supply Side: Operating Rate Rebounded from the Previous Month
Reasons for Fluctuations in Operating Rate
In the early part of the period, enterprises such as Luqing Petrochemical and Shandong Kairi resumed or increased PP powder production, and Hami Hengyou started trial production. In the middle part, some enterprises reduced production load or shut down, but enterprises including Ningxia Runfeng and Dongfang resumed production, offsetting the impact of production cuts.
Final Data
The overall operating rate of PP powder in mid-to-early October ranged from 35.38% to 35.58%, an increase of approximately 3 percentage points compared with the end of the previous month.
IV. Market Outlook: No Strong Positive Drivers in the Short Term, Continued Weak Fluctuation
Cost Side
In the short term, propylene still faces significant shipment pressure and is expected to continue fluctuating weakly, providing insufficient cost support for PP powder.
Supply Side
Hami Hengyou is expected to start normal production and shipment gradually, and Guangxi Hongyi has begun producing PP powder on two production lines from today, so market supply is expected to increase.
Demand Side
In the short term, downstream demand will mainly be rigid demand at low prices, with little room for improvement. Low-price competition between PP powder and granules will continue; in addition, attention should be paid to the driving effect of the “Double 11″ promotion on plastic weaving product shipments.
Post time: Oct-20-2025