The acrylic acid market declined

Market situation:

In late October 2025, the acrylic acid market experienced a downturn and the overall atmosphere was bearish. The core market characteristics can be summarized as: cost support collapse, supply pressure still exists, and downstream demand remains weak, all of which together lead to a downward trend in prices. As of October 21st, the benchmark price of acrylic acid in Shengyi Society was 7133.33 yuan/ton, an increase of 0.70% compared to last week (7183.00 yuan/ton).
Cost side:
The fundamental driving force behind market decline comes from upstream. The market price of the main raw material propylene continues to decline. As of October 21st, the benchmark price of propylene in Shengyi Society was 6195.75 yuan/ton, a decrease of 5.31% compared to the beginning of this month (6543.25 yuan/ton). This has caused a significant shift in the production cost center of acrylic acid, losing its anchoring effect on prices from the source of the industrial chain. When production costs no longer constitute a rigid constraint, manufacturers have greater flexibility and room for concessions in pricing and shipping strategies.
Supply side:
The overall operating load of the industry remains stable, while news of the planned restart of facilities in Lanzhou and other places is coming from the market. This indicates that the supply of goods in the future market may further increase, exacerbating the pressure on the supply side.
Demand side:
This is the biggest pain point in the current market. Downstream industries (such as coatings, adhesives, SAP, etc.) generally adopt conservative strategies, and “essential procurement” has become mainstream. They mainly rely on executing existing contracts or digesting their own inventory, and their willingness to actively enter the market for stocking is extremely low. Although the downstream operating rate has recovered after the holiday, the actual procurement increment it brings is not enough to digest the market supply and cannot effectively drive prices.
Under the above fundamentals, the market has a strong wait-and-see atmosphere. The mentality of buying up and not buying down has led downstream customers to hold onto their currency and wait for lower prices to emerge. This emotion further suppresses the activity of trading, forming a negative feedback loop. In order to attract orders and maintain cash flow, suppliers have to choose to offer according to the market, and even proactively lower prices to promote shipments, resulting in a continuous shift in market focus.
Future Prospects
Overall, the weak pattern of the acrylic acid market is difficult to reverse in the short term and is expected to maintain a weak and fluctuating downward trend.
Negative factors:
The weak trend in the upstream raw material market is expected to continue, and cost support is difficult to recover in the short term. Meanwhile, if there is no significant and sustained increase in downstream demand, the contradiction of oversupply will still be the core factor suppressing prices.
In the future, it is necessary to focus on the adjustment of production schedules and pricing strategies of mainstream manufacturing enterprises. If there is a large-scale and proactive reduction in load and production, it may provide an opportunity for the market to stabilize. Otherwise, in the absence of positive stimuli, the market downturn may continue.
In summary, the current acrylic acid market is in a typical downward channel of “weak cost weak demand” dual squeezing, and all participants need to remain cautious and closely monitor any signals of changes in supply and demand fundamentals.