The price of PTA futures has continued to fluctuate and rise since December. This trend has followed the price of crude oil, mainly due to the strong supply and demand of PTA. The expectation in the futures market is stronger than the spot market, and there is a seasonal accumulation of stocks from January to February and destocking from March to May.

The average processing fee of PTA last year was 500 yuan/ton. In March, the processing fee on the spot market was in the range of 200-300 yuan/ton, which was at the lowest position in history. With the overhaul of Yisheng Petrochemical, the operating rate of TA will be reduced to less than 70%. Under the pessimistic demand expectation, it is still in the state of destocking and the overall pattern is strong. There is still potential for increasing processing fees in the later stage when demand improves.

The following PTA plants have recently been shut down for maintenance:

1. Honggang Petrochemical's 1.5 mnt/yr plant was shut down on March 15th, restarting date to be determined;

2. Fuhua cut the operating rate of its 4.5 mn t/yr plant to 50% in early April;

3. Yadong Petrochemical's 750,000-ton plant was shut down on April 6th;

4. Sinopec Yangzi shut its 1.2 mn t/yr planton March 14th and plans to resume production in mid-May;

5. Yisheng New Materials shut downPTA Production Line 1 at the end of April; Yisheng Dalian shut down PTA Production Line 2 in mid-May; Yisheng Hainan shut down the PTA plant in late May;

6. Hengli Petrochemical shut down 250 mn t/yr unit on March 10th for 10 days maintenance and 220 mn t/yr unit for 20 days maintenance from April 10th;

7. The 1 million-ton plant of Sichuan Energy shut down a 1mn t/yr plant in mid-April;

8. Zhongtai Chemical shut down a 1.2t/yr plant at the end of March.

There is a long-term shut down formaintenance in the following PTA plants:

1. Sinopec Yangzi shut down 350,000tons plant on December 3rd 2020, restart date to be determined;

2. Huabin Petrochemical shut down a 1.4 mn t/yr plant on March 3rd 2021, restart date to be determined;

3. Liwan Polyester shut down a plant with capacity of 700,000 t/yr on March 6th 2021;

4. Sinopec Shanghai shut down a plant with capacity of 400,000 t/yr on February 20th 2021;

5. Tianjin Petrochemical shut down a plant with capacity of 340,000 t/yr in April 2020;

6. PetroChina Urumqi shut down plant with capacity for 75,000 t/yr in April 2021;

7. Hanbang Petrochemical shut down a plant with capacity of 700,000 t/yr in May 2020 and 2.2 mn t/yr plant on January 7th 2021;

8. Pengwei Chemical shut down a plant with capacity of 900,000 t/yr in March 2020.