The domestic industrial-grade acetonitrile market continued to strengthen this week, driven by tight supply and improving demand.

The auction price of acetonitrile at Zhejiang Petrochemical reached RMB 8,700/MT, up RMB 700/MT from the previous week, representing an increase of 8.75%. In Shandong, market prices also gradually climbed to around RMB 9,000/MT.

The latest price increase has been mainly supported by two factors: persistently tight supply and stronger downstream demand. By-product acetonitrile plants have been operating at relatively low rates for an extended period, while demand from the pharmaceutical and peptide sectors continues to grow. At the same time, export orders have increased, further tightening market availability.

Supply Remains Tight

On the supply side, the operating rate of domestic by-product acetonitrile plants remained around 60%-70% in August. Major producers in East China, including Sirbon, Zhejiang Petrochemical, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical, and Shanghai SECCO, have generally maintained relatively low operating rates.

Some plants in Shandong also experienced short-term maintenance shutdowns, keeping by-product acetonitrile inventories at low levels. In addition, transportation disruptions caused by typhoons in East China during August further affected the circulation of by-product resources and intensified regional supply tightness.

Although synthetic acetonitrile producers have maintained relatively high operating rates, the market's main demand growth this year has been concentrated in high-purity and preparative-grade acetonitrile, particularly due to the continued expansion of peptide-related applications.

Peptide Demand Supports High-Purity Acetonitrile

The rapid growth of peptide-related consumption has increased demand for preparative-grade acetonitrile. Since major preparative-grade acetonitrile producers rely heavily on by-product acetonitrile as a feedstock, the shortage of by-product resources has also affected the availability of higher-grade products.

As a result, tight supply in the preparative-grade segment has indirectly supported prices in the industrial-grade market.

A comparison of weekly by-product acetonitrile production and market prices shows a clear negative correlation between supply and prices. This indicates that changes in the availability of by-product acetonitrile remain one of the key factors influencing overall market price movements.

Export Demand Adds Further Support

In addition to steady growth in high-purity acetonitrile consumption, export demand for industrial-grade acetonitrile has also increased since early August.

This improvement is supported by two main factors. First, overseas supply remains relatively tight, with acrylonitrile producers operating at lower rates and consequently limiting the availability of by-product acetonitrile. Second, demand from overseas pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and peptide-related industries continues to expand.

Some domestic producers have indicated that exports may account for a larger share of their future sales, which could further reduce the volume available to the domestic market.

September Outlook

Looking ahead, the supply of by-product acetonitrile is expected to gradually recover around mid-September. Acrylonitrile plants operated by Sirbon, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical, Zhejiang Petrochemical, and Liaoning Kingfa are expected to restart progressively in early September.

Before the increase in by-product supply becomes substantial, acetonitrile prices may remain firm and could continue to move higher in the short term.

Meanwhile, demand for pre-holiday stockpiling ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays may provide additional support to the market in September.

However, the market still needs to monitor downstream purchasing activity, particularly from traditional pesticide applications. If prices rise too rapidly, downstream buyers may become more cautious, potentially triggering buying resistance and short-term demand weakness.

Overall, the acetonitrile market is likely to remain firm in the near term, with by-product supply recovery, downstream purchasing, and export demand becoming the key factors determining the next stage of price movements.