Not long after the restart of Wanhua Chemical's facility in Yantai, several TDI facilities have started or are about to undergo maintenance. The maintenance plans of TDI suppliers in the fourth quarter of this year are intensively scheduled.

Table 1: Recent TDI Facility Maintenance Plans in China and South Korea

Although TDI suppliers have typically concentrated their maintenance plans in the fourth quarter in previous years, this year the maintenance at Wanhua Chemical and Yinguang Chemical have exceeded industry expectations, and Cangzhou Dahua did not undergo maintenance last year. The maintenance duration of the facilities at Juli Chemical and Covestro is also longer than in previous years.

Amidst the contradiction between intensive maintenance plans and the recovery of demand, TDI suppliers, especially Covestro, have frequently raised their guide prices:

• On October 7, Covestro raised its opening price for October and only offered 50% of supplies to distributors in November, while providing 80% to direct customers.
• On October 8, Covestro stopped trading due to strong demand and extremely low inventory.
• On October 9, the price offered by the North China plant was raised to CNY 20,000/tonne. Covestro raised its fixed price to CNY 19,200/tonne.
• As of the latest update on October 11, Covestro has stopped trading again due to tight supply...

Looking back at October last year, the price of TDI surged from CNY 19,000/tonne to surpass CNY 26,000/tonne due to tight supply. And in the same period this year, with the same supply significantly reduced, the price level remains the same... Stay tuned for the subsequent market trend!