Since December last year, the domestic butyl acetate market has continued to fluctuate upward, with the rally further intensifying in the first week of 2026. The core driver behind this round of market upturn lies in robust cost-side support. Raw materials acetic acid and n-butanol have both seen synchronous price hikes amid supply-side tailwinds, and the mounting cost pressure has been continuously passed downstream, directly pushing up butyl acetate prices and driving the overall market to a higher operating level.

The price strength of both acetic acid and n-butanol is dominated by supply-side fundamentals, which together form a solid cost underpinning for butyl acetate. The acetic acid market has faced constrained production capacity due to unplanned outages at some facilities, leading to a continuous decline in corporate inventories. Coupled with stalled year-end contract negotiations and a recovery in spot procurement demand, acetic acid prices have remained firm. Meanwhile, the n-butanol market has grappled with persistent tight spot supply due to plant shutdowns, production cuts and acute inventory shortages at leading manufacturers. Combined with strong downstream procurement demand, the supply-demand imbalance has worsened, pushing transaction prices steadily higher. Dual cost pressures have forced butyl acetate producers to take the initiative to raise prices.

The supply-demand fundamentals of butyl acetate itself have failed to fuel the rally; instead, cautious sentiment on the demand side has capped price gains. At present, the industry’s capacity utilization rate stays low, with plant operating rates remaining stable and overall market supply ample. As such, the supply side has provided no meaningful upward impetus for prices. Affected by the rapid price surge, downstream factories and traders have adopted a cautious stance. Most traders have opted to offload their low-cost inventory stockpiled earlier to lock in profits, while the majority of market participants are only restocking for rigid demand. Plagued by insufficient orders, downstream factories have no plans for large-scale inventory replenishment. Meanwhile, the export market has also seen a slowdown due to multiple factors, resulting in weak overall demand follow-through.

Overall, butyl acetate will maintain a high-volatility pattern driven by costs in the short term. The tight supply of n-butanol is unlikely to ease in the near term, and acetic acid prices have stabilized at a high level, providing solid cost support. Enterprises are keen to follow the price uptrend, but downstream acceptance has waned amid elevated price levels, and the dampening effect from the demand side has been increasingly pronounced, which will limit the magnitude of further price increases. The medium-to-long-term trend will hinge on the pace of supply recovery for core raw materials, the rhythm of downstream demand revival, and the impact of new production capacity plans in the industry. Supply-demand dynamics will be the key determinant of the future price trajectory of butyl acetate.