In 2025, the styrene industry exhibited a phased “first decline then recovery” trend amid the interplay between concentrated capacity release and structural demand differentiation. As supply-side pressure eased marginally, market bottoming signals became increasingly clear. However, the structural contradiction between high inventories and demand differentiation remained unresolved, restricting the room for price rebound.
Capacity shocks on the supply side were the core factor weighing on the market in the first half of the year. In 2025, new domestic styrene production capacity came on stream in a concentrated manner, with the annual newly added capacity exceeding 2 million tons. Large-scale refining and chemical integration projects such as Liaoning Baolai and Zhejiang Petrochemical contributed the major increments, driving a year-on-year capacity growth of 18%. The concentrated capacity release, coupled with the traditional off-season for demand in the first quarter, exacerbated the market supply-demand imbalance. Styrene prices kept declining from 8,200 yuan per ton at the start of the year, hitting an annual low of 6,800 yuan per ton by the end of October, representing a 17% drop from the beginning of the year.
After mid-November, the market staged a phased rebound, with prices rising to around 7,200 yuan per ton, an increase of about 6%, marking the initial emergence of bottoming characteristics. The rebound was driven by two main factors. First, the supply side contracted: three sets of plants with a total annual capacity of 1.2 million tons in Shandong, Jiangsu and other regions suspended operations temporarily due to equipment maintenance or profit losses, pulling the weekly operating rate down from 85% to 78%. Second, the cost side provided support: driven by the rebound in international oil prices and the decline in port inventories, the price of feedstock benzene rose by 5.2%, pushing up the production cost of styrene. Nevertheless, high inventories remained the key constraint. By the end of November, styrene inventories at East China ports reached 164,200 tons, 23% higher than the same period last year. The inventory turnover days stayed at 12 days, far exceeding the reasonable range of 8 days, curbing further price increases.
The differentiated demand pattern has intensified market complexity, leading to a stark “two-tier performance” across core downstream sectors. The ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) industry emerged as the biggest highlight: benefiting from the growing exports of new energy vehicles and smart home appliances, its annual demand surged by 27.5% year-on-year. Major domestic ABS producers maintained an operating rate of over 90%, generating steady procurement demand for styrene. In sharp contrast, the PS (Polystyrene) and EPS (Expandable Polystyrene) industries suffered sluggish downstream demand, dragged down by the prolonged weakness in the real estate market. EPS is mainly used in external wall insulation materials; the 15% year-on-year decline in real estate new construction starts resulted in EPS producers operating at less than 50% capacity. Meanwhile, PS producers saw their operating rate hover around 60%, well below the level of the same period last year, due to the slowing export growth of light industries such as packaging and toys.
Currently, the styrene market is in a balanced phase characterized by “supply contraction providing a floor and demand differentiation limiting upside potential”. Although bottoming characteristics have emerged, the momentum for a reversal still awaits effective inventory destocking and a full-fledged demand recovery. In the short term, constrained by winter transportation restrictions on chemical products and the restart of some maintenance plants, the market is expected to fluctuate sideways. In the medium to long term, attention should be paid to the boosting effect of relaxed real estate policies on PS and EPS demand, as well as the demand expansion of ABS in the high-end manufacturing sector. These factors will jointly determine the height of the styrene price rebound.
Post time: Dec-11-2025