China's Sinopec has finalized its paraxylene contract price for March at 9,750 yuan ($1,416.71) per metric ton, up 32% from its February CP settlement, industry sources said on Monday.

After initially nominating its March CP at 7,600 yuan/mt, the company implemented a series of price adjustments throughout the month to navigate shifting market dynamics. These fluctuations were largely driven by escalating Middle East tensions, which severely disrupted global supply chains and tightened the availability of feedstock naphtha.

Sinopec utilizes a nomination and settlement mechanism to establish monthly pricing with its customer base. The company has nominated its April CP at 9,700 yuan/mt, a marginal decrease from its March settlement.

The domestic Chinese market faced a severe supply squeeze in March, triggered by a convergence of planned maintenance and unforeseen logistical bottlenecks.

Amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which caused significant global supply chain disruptions, the start of the annual maintenance season in the domestic market affected production at major facilities. These include Cnooc Ningbo Daxie Petrochemical Co.'s 1 million mt/year PX plant in Ningbo which was taken offline for two weeks on March 9 following a fire at its aromatics unit, and Qidao Lidong Chemical Co's 1 million mt/year plant in Qingdao, which was taken offline in late March for maintenance.

Further tightening the outlook for supply, Sinopec Jinling Co.--a 600,000 mt/year subsidiary in Nanjing--is slated to commence its planned annual maintenance in April after being postponed from March. In addition, an acute shortage of feedstock naphtha has forced several PX producers to scale back production. Average Chinese PX plant operating rates fell 3.8 percentage points week on week to 81% on April 2, an industry source said.

Conversely, the domestic Chinese polyester industry is aggressively ramping up production in anticipation of peak summer demand for polyethylene terephthalate bottles. This surge in downstream activity, combined with widespread production cuts, has led to a rapid drawdown of PX stocks and a considerably tighter local market. According to an industry source, Chinese PX inventories fell by 3% over the same period, dropping to 3.599 million mt on April 2.

At the same time, the increased demand has exerted upward pressure on PX prices, with the OPIS CFR China PX price rose 0.8% week on week to $1,251.33/mt on April 2. The last time the price stood at this level was on March 18, OPIS data shows. This rally was mirrored in the Chinese domestic market, where prices were higher by 0.5% over the same period to reach 9,919 yuan/mt on April 2, according to an industry source.

In response to higher domestic demand, PX imports saw a marginal increase in March, with shipments from South Korea rising 3% month on month to 454,786 mt, according to industry sources. However, market participants anticipate a decline in April as regional producers shift their operational focus towards fuel production.

Driven by the global fuel shortage stemming from Middle East tensions, refiners are increasingly channeling reformate into the gasoline pool rather than using it for aromatics extraction. This strategic pivot toward high-value fuel components is expected to further constrain PX import availability, just as local inventories continue to be depleted.

Separately, Sinopec has settled its March CP for purified terephthalic acid at 6,360 yuan/mt, 22.8% higher than its February CP settlement. The company has issued an April CP nomination of 7,000 yuan/mt, reflecting the tightening supply and higher feedstock costs.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Serena Seng, sseng@opisnet.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 06, 2026 04:26 ET (08:26 GMT)

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