Recently, the overall performance of the basic chemical industry outperformed the broader market, especially carbon black, rubber chemicals and civil explosives products and other subsectors rose significantly. However, sectors such as polyurethane and viscose have underperformed. Of the 336 chemical products tracked, prices showed a three-way split: up 24%, flat 42% and down 33%. Prices of products such as maleic anhydride and aniline rose, while liquid chlorine and PTMEG fell.

It is necessary to be alert to the overall demand reduction brought by the macroeconomic downturn, the dramatic fluctuations in the prices of bulk raw materials, as well as the risk of potential project progress at the company level is less than expected.