Report Industry Investment Rating No relevant content provided. Core Viewpoints of the Report - The propylene 03 contract is expected to fluctuate in the range of 5,500 - 6,000 yuan/ton in the short term. The recent weakening of the futures market, while the spot market remains stable, is mainly due to the loose supply - demand of propylene itself and the continuous suppression from the PP end. Short - term policy news may drive valuation repair, but the sustainability of the rebound depends on the actual improvement of the fundamentals [2]. - The near - term trading is affected by the overall loose fundamentals and the weak PP trend. The long - term outlook is bearish due to expected new production capacity, the imbalance between PP terminal demand and supply growth, and cost - side pressure [5][10]. Summary by Relevant Catalogs Chapter 1: Core Contradictions and Strategy Recommendations 1.1 Core Contradictions - Macro - sentiment and policy disturbances: The recent market is influenced by "anti - involution" news, leading to a short - term low - level rebound of some chemical products. The sustainability of the rebound remains to be seen [1]. - Stable spot supply - demand: This week, the overall supply - demand gap changed little. On the supply side, Guangzhou Petrochemical restarted and Jinhai Chemical had maintenance, with little change in overall production and capacity utilization. On the demand side, there was a slight increase. In the Shandong market, supply increased and demand decreased, causing a slight price decline [1]. - Suppression from major downstream PP: PP supply is abundant, and the price spread between PP and propylene has significantly shrunk. The weak PP price continues to suppress the propylene market. Short - term "anti - involution" may cause a phased rebound in the futures market, mainly for sentiment repair [1]. - PDH profit pressure: The price of propane in the international market remains strong. The PDH industry is in a continuous loss state, and attention should be paid to the possible negative feedback caused by profit contraction [2]. 1.2 Trading Strategy Recommendations - Market positioning: The market is expected to fluctuate weakly, with the PL03 price range at 5,500 - 6,000 yuan/ton. The overall trend is still weakly fluctuating, and it may rebound slightly due to some macro factors, but the short - term expectation is a weakly fluctuating trend. Follow - up attention should be paid to policy implementation and PDH unit maintenance [15]. - Basis, calendar spread, and hedging arbitrage strategies: - Basis strategy: The basis is expected to shrink as the spot price weakened slightly this week while the futures market was fluctuating [16]. - Hedging arbitrage strategy: Consider expanding the PP - PL spread on dips and the PL/PG ratio on dips, but stay on the sidelines for now. Pay attention to PP unit maintenance [17]. 1.3 Industrial Customer Operation Recommendations - Propylene price range forecast: The price of propylene is expected to be in the range of 5,500 - 6,000 yuan/ton. The current 20 - day rolling volatility is 0.1319, and the historical percentage of volatility in the past 3 years is 0.7378 [19]. - Hedging strategies: For enterprises with high finished - product inventory, they can short - sell propylene futures at high prices to lock in profits and sell call options to collect premiums. For enterprises with low procurement inventory, they can buy propylene futures at low prices to lock in procurement costs and sell put options to collect premiums [21]. Chapter 2: This Week's Important Information and Next Week's Key Events 2.1 This Week's Important Information - Positive information: Six departments issued a notice to promote the clean and efficient utilization of new and existing coal development projects and eliminate backward production capacity and processes. Geopolitical tensions may support oil prices [22]. - Negative information: Some PDH units under maintenance will restart, and the PDH operating rate has returned to a relatively high level of 75%. The PP market remains in a state of high supply [23]. 2.2 Next Week's Key Events - On December 22, China's December LPR will be announced. On December 23, the revised value of the annualized quarterly - on - quarter growth rate of the US real GDP in Q3 will be released [27]. Chapter 3: Futures Market Interpretation 3.1 Price, Volume, and Capital Analysis - Domestic market: The PL03 contract fluctuated this week. The net positions of major profitable seats decreased, and there were no obvious changes in the top 5 long and short positions in the order book. The net long positions of profitable seats, foreign investors decreased slightly, and the net short positions of retail investors increased slightly. Technically, the daily - line chart shows a downward trend, suppressed by the middle Bollinger Band. In the short - term, it fluctuated in the range of 5,650 - 5,800 [25]. - Basis and calendar spread structure: This week, the basis of propylene 03 was 220 yuan/ton, a decrease of 80 yuan/ton compared with last week. The 02 - 03 calendar spread was 20 yuan/ton, a decrease of 35 yuan/ton compared with last week [29]. Chapter 4: Valuation and Profit Analysis 4.1 Up - and Down - stream Profit Tracking - Upstream profit: The gross profit of major refineries this week was 614 yuan/ton (- 31), and that of Shandong local refineries was 472 yuan/ton (+ 29). The operating rate at the cracking end changed little [31]. - Mid - stream profit: The propane cracking profit declined significantly, and the profitability of LPG cracking decreased. The PDH profit based on FEI was - 289 yuan/ton (- 46), and that based on CP was - 431 yuan/ton (+ 122). The PDH industry remained in a loss state [32]. - Down - stream profit: The price spreads between PP拉丝/PP powder and propylene rebounded slightly. The profit of the chlorohydrin method for propylene oxide decreased. The overall loss of acrylonitrile was still large. The profit of acrylic acid weakened. The profit of butanol was compressed, and the profit of octanol recovered at a low level but was still under pressure. The profit of phenol - acetone weakened [34]. 4.2 Import - Export Profit Tracking - The price spread between China and South Korea for propylene has been stable recently. The CFR China price is 740 US dollars (- 5) [49]. Chapter 5: Supply - Demand and Inventory Projection 5.1 Supply - Demand Balance Sheet Projection in the Shandong Market - This week, supply increased and demand decreased slightly in the Shandong market, and the spot price declined. The increase in supply mainly came from the复产 of PDH units, and the decrease in demand was due to the maintenance of Jineng and Yulong in the PP sector [51]. 5.2 Market Supply and Projection - This week, there were both start - ups and shut - downs. The overall operating rate of propylene was 74.11% (- 0.1%), still at a high level. Guangzhou Petrochemical's 600,000 - ton steam cracking unit restarted, and Jinhai Chemical's 210,000 - ton steam cracking unit was under maintenance [54]. 5.3 Demand and Projection - This week, the price spreads between PP granules/powder and propylene rebounded slightly, and the operating rate of the granule end remained stable. The price spread of PP powder also rebounded slightly but was still at a low level, and the number of maintenance units increased. For other downstream products, the price of propylene oxide declined, the profit of the chlorohydrin method decreased, and the inventory continued to decline. The production of acrylonitrile changed little. The operating rate of butanol and octanol increased. The capacity utilization rate of acrylic acid was at a phased high. The production of phenol - acetone changed due to unit restarts and maintenance. The demand in the Shandong region increased this week, mainly due to the复产 and increased load of PP, PO, acrylonitrile, and octanol [63][78].
南华期货丙烯产业周报：宽松延续，关注检修-20251221
Nan Hua Qi Huo·2025-12-21 12:19