After the New Year's Day holiday in 2026, the domestic epichlorohydrin market has officially entered the opening stage. Supported by the rigid upward trend of raw material prices, the market as a whole presents a complex pattern intertwined with high-cost operation and supply-demand game, and the price trend tends to stabilize. The profitability of the industry's two mainstream production processes, the propylene-based process and the glycerol-based process, continues to be under pressure, their profit margins are further compressed, and the trend of differentiation is constantly intensifying, which has become the most prominent operating feature of the industry at the beginning of this year.

Since the beginning of 2026, the game between "strong cost" and "weak supply and demand" has become the core contradiction of the epichlorohydrin market, and also the key reason for the pressure on the profitability of the two major processes. On the cost side, the prices of core raw materials have continued to rise; affected by factors such as tight overseas supply and limited import arrivals, spot circulation is tight, which has continuously pushed up production costs. Among them, the glycerol-based process is the most obviously dragged down by the rising prices of raw materials and has fallen into a dilemma of cost inversion; although the supply of raw materials for the propylene-based process is relatively stable, the cost pressure is also gradually rising, and its profit margin is constantly being squeezed.

The supply side shows a trend of regional differentiation: some enterprises in major producing areas have increased their production load, driving an increase in industry supply and suppressing market sentiment; while in other regions, prices remain stable due to tight supply. The demand side remains weak: core downstream epoxy resin enterprises mainly focus on fulfilling existing contracts and digesting inventory, with a cautious attitude towards new order procurement, low acceptance of high-priced raw materials, and a generally weak trading atmosphere. The recovery of terminal demand is slow, and the pressure of rising costs cannot be effectively passed on to the downstream, further squeezing the profit margins of the two major processes.

The profit differentiation between the two major processes has become more prominent in the opening stage. Relying on the advantage of stable raw material supply, the propylene-based process can still maintain a certain level of profitability, but its profit margin is continuously narrowing, and some enterprises are close to the profit threshold. In contrast, the glycerol-based process is trapped in deep losses, the predicament of cost inversion is difficult to alleviate, the production enthusiasm of enterprises is suppressed, and some small and medium-sized enterprises have suspended or reduced production periodically, facing prominent survival pressure.

From the perspective of the industrial chain, the profit pressure on the entire chain has formed a vicious circle: raw material prices are rising but the profits of intermediate links are narrowing; epichlorohydrin itself is under profit pressure with obvious process differentiation; the downstream epoxy resin industry has weak profitability, some products are in losses, and the transmission of high-priced raw materials is blocked, failing to form effective demand support.

Looking ahead, the pattern of profit pressure on the two major processes is difficult to improve in the short term. Raw material prices are expected to continue their upward trend, providing strong cost support; on the supply side, with the recovery of maintenance equipment, the supply scale will expand; the recovery of the demand side still needs time, and the supply-demand game will persist. Industry insiders predict that throughout 2026, the epichlorohydrin market will maintain a pattern of "strong cost and weak supply-demand", the profit differentiation between processes may further intensify, the industry reshuffle will accelerate, resources will concentrate on leading enterprises with advantages, and enterprises need to cope with challenges through cost reduction, efficiency improvement and technological upgrading.