Hong Kong Stock Concept Tracking | Large Chemical Plants in Europe Continue to Shut Down, Chemical Products May Face Price Increases (Including Concept Stocks)

Recently, Shell announced that the propylene oxide/styrene monomer (POSM) plant located in Moerdijk, Netherlands, experienced an unforeseen event due to technical issues, resulting in a production interruption for the plant with an annual capacity of 210,000 tons. At the same time, one of the world's largest propylene oxide production plants, Maasvlakte plant, may face closure. The plant is operated as a joint venture between LyondellBasell and Covestro, playing a crucial role in the manufacturing of sustainable plastics and other key products. It is worth noting that the propylene oxide industry has already been facing pressures of supply shortages and rising costs, with leading companies pushing product prices up by 200 yuan/ton to 7750 yuan/ton. The industry is expected to see a further increase in prices. Recently, prices of products such as silicone and formic acid have risen, maintaining a stable trend afterwards. On one side, chemical companies are voluntarily choosing to suspend production or reduce operations to reverse their business decline. On the other side, they are forced to halt production due to unforeseen events such as "black swan" incidents. Amid the fluctuating upstream prices and continuous sluggish downstream demand, "halt" has become the keyword for the first quarter of 2025, with future trends revolving around "rise". Luxi Chemical Group stated during a research institution visit on March 26 that the company has a variety of chemical products, and recent market prices of chemical products are influenced by factors such as peer company start-up rates, downstream demand changes, and market fluctuations. According to the news from Coating Procurement Network, many chemical companies are more cautious compared to a complete shutdown. Some have opted for temporary "lying flat" by carrying out maintenance checks, intermittently reducing manpower and mechanical and electrical costs, and reducing market inventory to prepare for future price hikes. This involves nearly 5 million tons of capacity for products like MIBK, BDO, chlorohexane, hydrogen peroxide, TDI, bisphenol A, etc., further tightening market supply in the short term and intensifying expectations of price increases for related products. List of Hong Kong-listed chemical companies includes: SINOPEC CORP (00386), CHINA SANJIANG (02198), WUHAN YOUJI (02881), CHINA XLX FERT (01866), DONGGUANG CHEM (01702), TIANDE CHEMICAL (00609), YIP'S CHEMICAL (00408), etc.