Report Summary 1. Report Industry Investment Rating No information provided. 2. Core Viewpoints - The near - term pure benzene inventory has shifted from accumulation to depletion, and new downstream production news has strengthened the expectation of improved future demand for pure benzene, which is in a transition from weak reality to strong expectation. In contrast, styrene has seen significant port inventory accumulation, with downstream industrial giants actively selling near - term and buying far - term contracts. The near - term spot liquidity has recovered, and the basis in late July has rapidly weakened. The styrene supply - demand pattern has weakened due to the off - season of terminal demand, with only rigid demand support from 3S for styrene. However, recently, influenced by old device inspections and anti - involution macro trends, the overall sentiment of commodities has been positive, and the pure benzene and styrene futures have followed the strong performance of coking coal and coke [4]. 3. Summary by Relevant Content 3.1 Price Forecast and Hedging Strategies - **Price Forecast**: The monthly price forecast for pure benzene is 5,800 - 6,400 yuan/ton, and for styrene is 7,000 - 7,600 yuan/ton. The current 20 - day rolling volatility of styrene is 29.40%, and its historical percentile over 3 years is 85.8% [3]. - **Hedging Strategies**: - **Inventory Management**: For enterprises with high finished - product inventory worried about styrene price decline, they can short styrene futures (EB2509, sell, 25%, entry range: 7,450 - 7,500 yuan/ton) to lock in profits and cover production costs. They can also sell call options (EB2509C7600, sell, 50%, entry range: 120 - 150 yuan) to collect premiums and reduce capital costs, and lock in the spot selling price if styrene prices rise [3]. - **Procurement Management**: For enterprises with low regular inventory and planning to purchase based on orders, they can buy styrene futures (EB2509, buy, 50%, entry range: 7,250 - 7,300 yuan/ton) to lock in procurement costs in advance. They can also sell put options (EB2509P7300, sell, 75%, entry range: 90 - 120 yuan) to collect premiums and reduce procurement costs, and lock in the spot purchase price if styrene prices fall [3]. 3.2 Fundamental Analysis - **Pure Benzene**: The near - term inventory has changed from accumulation to depletion, and downstream new production news has strengthened the expectation of future demand improvement. There are also positive factors such as production reduction due to equipment problems at Shenghong and Zhejiang Petrochemical [4][5][7]. - **Styrene**: The port has seen significant inventory accumulation, downstream industrial giants are actively selling near - term and buying far - term contracts, and the near - term spot liquidity has recovered. The basis in late July has rapidly weakened. It is the off - season of terminal demand, with only rigid demand support from 3S, and the supply - demand pattern has weakened. As of July 21, the styrene inventory at Jiangsu ports was 15.07 tons, an increase of 1.22 tons (+8.81%) from the previous period [4][8]. 3.3 Market Data - **Basis Changes**: The basis of pure benzene and styrene has changed. For example, the basis of East China - BZ03 for pure benzene on July 22 was - 258, a decrease of 27 from July 21; the basis of East China - EB07 for styrene on July 22 was 98, a decrease of 162 from July 21 [9]. - **Price Changes**: The prices of pure benzene and styrene and related products have changed. For example, BZ2603 of pure benzene increased by 37 yuan/ton from July 21 to July 22, and EB2507 of styrene increased by 87 yuan/ton [11][12]. - **Spread Changes**: The spreads in the pure benzene - styrene industry chain have changed. For example, the spread between styrene spot and pure benzene spot decreased by 60 yuan/ton from July 21 to July 22 [10].