Market price of caustic soda:

Caustic soda spot analysis:    caustic soda market trend this week differentiation, early week enterprise shipments are not good, and then improved, downstream demand to maintain a lukewarm state, the overall trading atmosphere of the market is OK, liquid alkali market prices rise and fall, tablet alkali market mainly upside. Specifically:

Liquid alkali market:    this week the liquid alkali market is mainly weak, the overall market atmosphere is weak, the price is mainly regional downward, most of the operators hold a wait-and-see mentality, and the price adjustment is more cautious. From the point of view of the price adjustment in various regional markets, 32% of the ionic membrane alkali was reduced by 10-60 yuan / ton individually, the individual increased by 20 yuan / ton, 50% of the ionic membrane alkali decreased by 20-100 yuan / ton, 45% of the ionic membrane alkali decreased by 70 yuan / ton, and the prices of other concentrations of alkali were temporarily stable. First of all, at the beginning of the week, the price of high concentration alkali was mainly reduced, the price of individual low concentration alkali was reduced sporadically, and the price reduction of high concentration alkali was mainly due to poor downstream demand, enterprise shipments were blocked, market transactions were relatively light, and price reduction promoted shipments. the enthusiasm of receiving goods downstream of low concentration alkali in some areas is poor, the shipping situation of enterprises is not smooth, and the price center of gravity moves down mainly, and then the market wait-and-see mood gradually increases. The regional markets almost maintained the operation of the previous level, and there were influencing factors in individual regional markets, with prices rising slightly. Individual devices went in for maintenance as planned during the week, but there was no favorable support for the local market, and the overall market fluctuation was not obvious. Generally speaking, the overall market trend in the week was mainly weak, and there were no factors to guide the market trend in most regional markets. The upstream production enterprises partially adjust the ex-factory quotation, the quotation mentality is different, some manufacturers wait and see to stabilize the price, and the price adjustment is more cautious.

Tablet alkali market:    this week, the overall atmosphere of the tablet alkali market has improved, and prices have risen mainly as a whole. First of all, the tablet alkali market is mainly sorted out at the beginning of the week, the downstream demand maintains the lukewarm trend, the transaction atmosphere in some areas is OK, the market transaction price center of gravity moves up, and the market operation atmosphere is relatively flexible. in the middle of the week, the main manufacturers in the northwest announced that the price of the new order was mainly increased, the inventory of individual manufacturers decreased, and the purchasing and buying atmosphere in the lower reaches was slightly improved, and the actual transaction price in some areas was slightly higher than the factory quotation. The mentality of local businessmen has slightly improved, the enthusiasm of businessmen to enter the market has increased, and the overall market trend is better, but some operators continue to hold a wait-and-see mentality.

China caustic soda index:    according to Tuduoduo data, China's caustic soda spot index was 2578.16 on May 18, up 19.6%, or 0.77%, compared with the beginning of the week.

Device changes during the week:

Change in operating rate during the week: the operating rate of caustic soda plant in China is about 82.5%.

Post-caustic soda forecast:    caustic soda market trend is differentiated this week, liquid alkali market as a whole is weak and difficult to rise and fall into the situation, the trend of tablet alkali market has improved, new unit prices and market transaction prices in some areas have increased. In the later stage, first of all, the cost side of the raw salt market has weakened recently, the supply of goods in the market has increased, the price has moved down, and the support for caustic soda is insufficient. From a fundamental point of view, the current time node is in mid-late May. In the early stage, we mentioned that some chlor-alkali plants had maintenance plans in mid-late May and early June. At present, only individual devices are under maintenance, and there is no obvious support for the market. In the later period, some devices entered the centralized maintenance period, the operators will pin their hopes on the equipment maintenance, and the maintenance news makes the liquid alkali price stable this week. However, it should be noted that according to the current market situation, whether the market can form a strong support for the market only by the factors of reducing the supply of plant maintenance remains to be studied, and the downstream industries mostly maintain rigid demand procurement, and the demand has not improved obviously. there is no obvious improvement in the actual transaction in the market, coupled with the maintenance plan for alumina plants in some downstream areas, the demand is expected to be reduced at that time, although the rigid demand still supports the market. However, it is difficult for the overall demand to maintain a lukewarm state to effectively boost the market, but at the same time, the increase in the purchase of electrolytic aluminum in some areas will indirectly increase the demand for caustic soda, so it is expected that the caustic soda market may be expected to rise to a certain extent. however, in the case of insufficient demand support, the rising range is limited, and the price in each region is mainly adjusted flexibly. At present, there is no obvious good news in the liquid alkali market, but the supply side is expected to decrease. It is expected that the liquid alkali market may improve slightly next week, so we should pay attention to the maintenance of the equipment. The supply side of the tablet alkali market has decreased, and the inventory of some large factories in the northwest of the main producing area has decreased, and the supply has a strong support to the market, and the price of the new unit in the northwest region has been raised this week, which has a certain boost to the tablet alkali market, and the price of tablet alkali has continued to fall. at present, the price is at a relatively low point, and some merchants have a certain reserve demand, and it is expected that the short-term tablet alkali market may continue to rise, while in the later stage, the current profit is almost exhausted. Market prices or mainly to sort out, it is difficult to have large fluctuations.

Upstream raw salt analysis:    raw salt market showed a weak downward trend this week, some areas of the market transaction price center of gravity moved down mainly, the overall market trend is not good. The price of sea salt market showed a trend of regional decline during the week, the market supply increased, and the downstream demand remained stable, so the price was mainly reduced, while some regional operators remained on the sidelines. The performance of both supply and demand in the well and mineral salt market is mild, the overall market trend is relatively stable, the downstream demand maintains the previous level, most operators have a strong wait-and-see mood, and the price adjustment mentality is more cautious. The supply of goods in the lake salt market has increased significantly, the downstream demand is relatively stable, and the price has loosened somewhat.

Downstream alumina price:

Liquid chlorine market analysis:    liquid chlorine market as a whole this week is mainly down, the regional market first fell and then rose, the market began to improve in the middle of the week, but also some local markets hold a wait-and-see mentality, price adjustment is more cautious. During the week, the cumulative decline in various regions was 50-300 yuan / ton, while individual markets increased by 50 yuan / ton. First of all, the early maintenance equipment has been restored during the week, and the market supply has increased to a certain extent, while the downstream demand has maintained a tepid trend, coupled with the overall poor profit situation of downstream enterprises, so the market is weak and downward. in the middle of the week, the demand of individual main downstream enterprises in the local area has improved, and the purchasing enthusiasm has increased compared with the previous period, so the price in the local area has mainly risen. On the whole, the liquid chlorine market this week is weaker than last week, showing a trend of falling first and then rising.

Liquid chlorine index analysis:    according to Tuduoduo data, China's liquid chlorine spot index was 100.11 on May 18, an increase of 27.78 or 38.4% compared with the beginning of the week. China's liquid chlorine index rose this week.