Methanol: short-term market will maintain gains

Market participants expect the global methanol market to maintain gains in 2022 due to high natural gas and oil prices, supply concerns and expectations of strong demand following global production disruptions

Supply and demand conditions improve in Asia

Market participants said methanol prices in Asia are expected to remain firm in the first half of this year

Meanwhile, port congestion in eastern and southern China could spur methanol producers in India and Southeast Asia to increase spot volumes

Market participants expect a pick-up in market activity from mid-January 2022, when most of the term contract negotiations are finalized

Uncertainty over European supply

In Europe, buying interest is expected to be stronger in most methanol downstream application markets such as acetic acid, formaldehyde and other manufacturing-related applications

OCI's Dutch methanol plant is not expected to resume operations in the first half of this year due to higher natural gas costs, the sources said

U.

　　Heading into the first half of 2022, the U.

　　Market participants said that the spot price of methanol in the United States is expected to rise in the first half of this year, but it may experience a slow rise from January to February