On January 28, the rare earth index was 345 points, unchanged from yesterday, down 65.50% from the cyclical peak of 1000 points (2011-12-06), and up 27.31% from the lowest point of 271 on September 13, 2015. (Note: Period refers to 2011-12-01 to date).

The average price of neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium in rare earth metals is 398,000 yuan/ton, 1,655,000 yuan/ton and 660,000 yuan/ton respectively. The average price of praseodymium and neodymium oxide in rare earth oxides is 315,000 yuan/ton; dysprosium oxide is 1.21 million yuan/ton; praseodymium oxide is 397,500 yuan/ton; and neodymium oxide is 315,000 yuan/ton. The price of praseodymium and neodymium alloys in rare earth alloys is 399.5 million yuan per ton, and the average price of dysprosium and iron alloys is 1.22 million yuan per ton.

Recently, 12 departments have seriously dealt with illegal enterprises such as reselling illegal rare earth minerals, resulting in the cold trade in the domestic rare earth market. Some commodity prices in the rare earth market have declined, mainly concentrated in Praseodymium-Neodymium alloys and neodymium oxides. The price fluctuation of rare earth market is related to environmental protection supervision in the whole country. Rare earth production has its particularity, especially the radiation hazard of some products, which makes environmental protection supervision stricter. Under stringent environmental protection, rare earth separation enterprises in many provinces have stopped production, resulting in a decline in the market of rare earth oxides, making the price of rare earth products firm. Especially for some mainstream rare earth oxides, the supply performance is tight, the price trend of some commodities in the rare earth market is stable, the willingness of large enterprise groups to limit production in the near future, the market of rare earth has improved, but for the pricing of products, major manufacturers are cautious to wait and see. Recent rare earth export market is general, resulting in a decline in imports, which has a negative impact on the rare earth market. However, due to the limited volume, the price trend of some rare earth products has declined, but the price trend of most products is temporarily stable.

Eight inspecting groups composed of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Natural Resources and other ministries went to various places and launched special inspecting actions against eight provinces and regions of Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Sichuan, which are the main producing areas of rare earths. Prior to this, six departments of Jiangxi Province, a major producer of rare earth, jointly issued a special action document on cracking down on rare earth blacks, and conducted special supervision from September 2018 to January 2019. Due to the increasingly obvious regulatory effect, the supply of raw ore resources in the upstream of the rare earth industry has shrunk, and the trading market of the rare earth industry has been cold.

Rare earth analysts of business associations expect that the domestic environmental stringent inspection will not decrease in the near future, and the domestic reorganization of the order of the inhalation industry will have a certain positive impact on the rare earth industry. However, near the Spring Festival, the turnover of rare earth industry is limited, and the turnover of the rare earth industry is cold, and the price trend of the rare earth market is expected to be temporarily stable.

Price data

According to the data from the business associations’list, the domestic sulfur market shocks down this week. The average price of granular sulfur at the beginning of the week is about 1433.33 yuan per ton, and the average price of granular sulfur at the weekend is about 1373.33 yuan per ton. The price of granular sulfur at the end of the week falls by 4.19%.

II. Market Analysis

Products: Domestic sulphur market turnover this week is general, approaching the Spring Festival holidays, some downstream work has been suspended for holidays, businessmen are cautious about pre-Festival mentality. On Wednesday, domestic sulphur market quotations fell centrally. For domestic refineries, Sinopec’s refineries fell sharply. The mainstream quotations for solid sulphur ranged from 1150 to 1460 yuan/ton, and for liquid sulphur ranged from 1170 to 1400 yuan/ton. Among them, Zhenhai, Jinling and Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company in Shanghai all dropped by 100 yuan per ton, while Yanshan and Luoyang Petrochemical Company slightly decreased by 10 yuan per ton.

Industry chain: In the downstream industry this week, the main distribution price of sulphuric acid in Shandong increased slightly: Heze Jiangyuan quoted 400 yuan/ton, with a slight increase of 20 yuan/ton; Jinan Yuanfei quoted 550 yuan/ton, with a temporary stabilization; Zouping Tianlu quoted 290 yuan/ton, with a slight increase of 20 yuan/ton.

3. Future Market Forecast

Sulphur analysts from Business Society Chemical Branch believe that the mainstream port stock is not high in the near future. They support the market slightly. Traders have an obvious price-fixing mentality. They are not willing to make profits and deliver goods. Lower-stream buyers are mainly on the lookout. They expect the sulfur market to stabilize in the near future.

The Indian acetone market closed stable on January 23, with CIF prices ranging from $458.5 to $461.5 per ton.

On January 21, the PX commodity index was 68.80, unchanged from yesterday, down 32.81% from the peak of 102.40 points in the cycle (2013-02-28), and up 51.04% from the low of 45.55 points on February 15, 2016. (Note: Period refers to 2013-02-01 to date).

Recently, the domestic market price trend of p-xylene has been temporarily stable. Pengzhou Petrochemical Plant has been running steadily in the field. Urumqi Petrochemical Plant has started 50% of its operation. Fuhaichuang Aromatic Hydrocarbon Plant has been restarted. Other plants have been running steadily for the time being. The domestic market supply of p-xylene has increased, and the market price trend of p-xylene has been temporarily stable. The opening rate of PX plant in Asia rose to about 80%. On January 21, the closing price of p-xylene in Asia rose by 22 US dollars/ton. The closing price was US$1072-1074/ton FOB in Korea and US$1092-1094/ton CFR in China. More than 50% of the domestic units needed to be imported. The rising price of foreign units had a positive impact on the domestic market price of p-xylene, and the intra market price maintained 8,600 yuan/ton.

On January 21, the US WTI crude oil futures market closed at $53.80 per barrel in March, while Brent crude oil futures market closed at $62.70 per barrel in March. The closing price of Brent crude oil did not change much, which supported the price of downstream petrochemical products and temporarily stabilized the price trend of xylene market. Recent textile industry market shocks, PTA prices have maintained stability in the near future, the average price in East China is around 6400-6600 yuan/ton, as of 18 days domestic PTA start-up rate is about 71%, polyester industry start-up rate is about 80%, plus the general market of hobby production and marketing, PTA market price shocks, it is expected that the later PX market price will maintain 8600 yuan/ton.

On January 21, the price of the external quotation of o-xylene in Europe fell, with the external quotation of $820.00/ton FOB Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp, down by $30/ton from the external quotation of $850.00/ton on January 18.

On January 18, the closing price of p-xylene in the U.S. market fell by $1/ton, and the closing price was $1036-1046/ton FOB in the U.S. Harbour.

NEW YORK, Jan. 17 News, COMEX copper futures closed up slightly on Thursday, with small fluctuations in the plate.

COMEX copper closed up 0.65 cents or 0.2% at $2.6800 a pound in March, the most active trading company.

Due to the continuation of the Sino-US trade war and the potential volatility of Britain’s withdrawal from Europe, the Chilean Copper Industry Council (Cochilco) maintained its average copper price forecast of $3.05 per pound this year and rose to $3.08 per pound in 2020.

Cochilco estimates a global supply shortage of 227,000 tons in 2019 and a supply shortfall of 185,000 tons by 2020.

The Rotterdam phenol market closed stable on January 16, with CIF prices ranging from $1059.5 to $1064.5 per ton.

The phenol Market in China is shaking and the offer in East China is low. At present, Petrochemical is listed at 8,500 yuan/ton, down 8,300 yuan/ton in East China, 8,500 yuan/ton in Shandong and 8,500 yuan/ton in Yanshan. Last week, although the port had a shipment due, the customs formalities involved have not yet been supplied to the market. At present, the supply side of phenol Market is relatively stable, but the terminal demand is low and the intention of offering is low. Business associations expect the phenol Market in East China to offer a range of 8300-8350 yuan/ton.

By the end of January 11, Butadiene FOB Rotterdam Spot was 878-882 US dollars/ton, up 35 US dollars/ton; Butadiene FD Northwest Europe Spot was 843-847 Euro/ton, up 30 Euro/ton.