During the 2026 Spring Festival in February, most domestic petrochemical enterprises maintained normal production. Some enterprises reduced their operating load due to the sharp rise in crude oil prices during the holiday, but the overall operating rate remained at a reasonable level. Affected by continuous production during the holiday, delayed post-holiday logistics recovery and the advance arrival of some imported resources (originally scheduled to arrive in mid-to-late February) at ports before and during the holiday, the accumulation of petrochemical and social inventories accelerated significantly.
Data shows that as of February 24, the total inventory of Sinopec and PetroChina (covering general plastics including PE, PP, a small amount of ABS, PS and EVA) reached 940,000 tons, an increase of 480,000 tons from February 14 and 20,000 tons compared with the same period last year.
Before the holiday, the domestic PE market continued to decline due to shrinking downstream demand (as merchants and downstream enterprises left the market one after another), weak linear futures and insufficient support for the spot market, prompting most merchants to hold light positions for risk control. After the holiday, spot prices rose slightly driven by the high opening of linear futures, but the increase was limited due to high overall inventories and the fact that most downstream enterprises had not resumed production in the first post-holiday week.
Downstream demand is recovering slowly from late February to March 3, with the market mainly focusing on inventory digestion and only a small amount of rigid replenishment. Demand is expected to accelerate significantly after the Lantern Festival (March 3). It is predicted that after mid-March, with the obvious improvement of downstream demand (represented by agricultural film) and positive signals from the two sessions, the market price is likely to rise, especially for linear and high-pressure PE products.
Post time: Feb-25-2026