This year's sluggish ammonium sulfate market is in stark contrast to last year's soaring trend. Last year, the price of ammonium sulfate rose all the way after June, and rose to the highest point in the year from August to October. The ex-factory price of ammonium sulfate in Shanxi Province exceeded 1,300 yuan (t price, the same below); this year it fell after all the way in May, after July. It is a plunge. In August, the number of factories and regions where ammonium sulfate factory prices fell below the 1,000 yuan mark was increasing. Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and other places were sold at prices ranging from 900 to 950 yuan, and the lowest prices in the market were below 800 yuan. Although the quoted price in the southern region was relatively high, the actual transaction price also fell about 300 yuan from the previous high point. The current price has basically returned to the level of last March, compared with the same period last year, the price gap is about 400 yuan. According to analysis, the recent slump in the price of ammonium sulfate has mainly the following reasons: - Decline in demand for fertilizers There are three main requirements for ammonium sulfate in China. One is the demand for chemical fertilizers, that is, compound fertilizer manufacturers use ammonium sulfate as raw materials, the second is rare earth demand, and the third is exports. Fertilizer demand is the most important part. In the first four months of this year, the market for compound fertilizers was in a good trend, with strong demand, high operating rate of enterprises, and a large demand for ammonium sulfate. However, after the end of May, the fertilizer market began to weaken, the operating rate of enterprises decreased, and the demand for ammonium sulfate also declined. This coincided with the other two major needs of ammonium sulfate at the time – rare earths and exports were relatively flat, and the overall market demand. Insufficient, resulting in rapid decline in the price of ammonium sulfate. ——Urea price drop driven Ammonium sulphate and urea are both nitrogen fertilizers. The urea price has a certain impact on the price of ammonium sulphate, especially when the other requirements of ammonium sulphate are insufficient and the properties of chemical fertilizers appear, the price correlation between the two is greater. After late May, the price of urea fell sharply. In just over a month, the price fell by 200-300 yuan, drastically lowering the price of ammonium sulfate. - International prices fall China's zero tariff on ammonium sulfate exports, which is very favorable for ammonium sulfate exports. At the same time, due to the absence of tariffs, domestic ammonium sulfate prices and international ammonium sulfate can basically converge. Since May, international ammonium sulphate prices have fallen sharply. By mid-July, the FOB price of caprolactam ammonium sulfate in the Black Sea region has dropped from US$180 to US$190. Baltic caprolactam ammonium sulfate FOB price ranges from US$170 to US$180. Ukraine’s coking ammonium sulfate offshore The price of 150 to 155 US dollars, in Southeast Asia, CIF of 240 to 245 US dollars, basically fell to the price level at the beginning of the year. - Weak demand for rare earth Last year, the price of ammonium sulfate rose sharply. One of the important reasons was the demand for rare earths. Last year, the rare earth market was very popular, and the price was doubled several times during the year. It also brought fire to the ammonium sulfate market. Basically, each time the price of ammonium sulfate hit a new high, it was caused by the purchase of rare earth manufacturers. However, with the increase in rare earth remediation efforts this year, the phenomenon of private mining rare earth has hit, the rare earth demand for ammonium sulfate has suddenly reduced a lot, coupled with dealers and rare earth itself has a lot of high-priced inventory to be digested, The amount of newly purchased ammonium sulfate needed is quite small. After a sharp decline in the previous period, the current price of ammonium sulfate has started to stabilize and stabilize, and it is unlikely that it will continue to fall, especially if it falls sharply. First, compound fertilizer manufacturers are about to enter the autumn fertilizer production season. At present, some manufacturers have begun to purchase raw materials, and the demand for ammonium sulfate will also be significantly enlarged. The second reason is that the price drop of ammonium sulfate in this round was quite large, exceeding the drop in the price of ammonium chloride, resulting in an anomaly in some places where the price of ammonium sulfate was lower than that of ammonium chloride, and the price advantage of ammonium sulfate appeared. Third, due to the sluggish iron and steel industry, coking companies generally suffered losses, and coke production showed a negative growth. The company’s loss reached 72.5%. At present, coking plants generally increase their efforts to restrict production. The operating rate in Shandong is 50% to 60%, and some manufacturers in Shanxi have a low operating rate of 30% to 40%, which reduces the supply of coking ammonium sulfate and provides less price support. Fourth, the international ammonium sulfate price has rebounded. Since late July, the prices of ammonium sulfate in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea have rebounded by 5 to 15 US dollars; China's ammonium sulfate exports have been warming, and the current order of ammonium sulfate in the port area has increased, and the arrival price has regained 1100 yuan. Fast, high,cleaner,multifunctional Ningbo Norjia Bell Electric Appliance Co., ltd , https://www.norjiabell.com
Four factors caused the price of ammonium sulfate to plummet