Entering September 2025, the market price of acrylic acid continues to be under pressure. As of September 1st, the benchmark price of acrylic acid in Shengyi Society was 6250.00 yuan/ton, a decrease of 6.02% compared to the beginning of last month (6650.00 yuan/ton). This is mainly due to the sustained weakness of the demand side, strong downstream wait-and-see sentiment, and only maintaining essential procurement, with extremely low willingness to hoard a large amount of goods.

The current market downturn is the result of multiple factors from both the supply and demand sides working together:
1. Supply pressure continues to increase: In the second half of 2025, the domestic acrylic acid industry still plans to put into operation over 600000 tons or even 740000 tons of new production capacity. This has once again escalated the supply pressure in the industry. Although the industry’s operating rate remains at a low to medium level of around 68%, attempting to balance supply and demand through load reduction, the social inventory is moderately high, and inventory pressure continues to exist.
2. Weak performance on the demand side: Downstream main areas (such as coatings, adhesives, textile auxiliaries) have insufficient purchasing enthusiasm and generally hold a bearish or cautious attitude, mainly focusing on replenishing inventory for essential needs, with widespread price cutting behavior. The export market is also not optimistic. In the first half of 2025, the export volume of butyl acrylate in China decreased by 13.42% year-on-year, which cannot effectively divert domestic supply pressure. The traditional demand side (such as oil extraction, water treatment, papermaking, etc.) is hindered by the global economic downturn, making it difficult to achieve significant growth.
3. Cost support and game theory: Although the price of the main raw material propylene has increased compared to early August, on September 1st, the benchmark price of propylene in Shengyi Society was 6663.25 yuan/ton, an increase of 3.58% compared to early last month (6433.25 yuan/ton). At the current price level, some factories are already near the breakeven line or even at a loss, so the profit margin for manufacturers is extremely limited, and they have a strong willingness to raise prices. The market is in a fierce game of “cost support” and “weak demand”.
Future Prospects
In the short term, the acrylic acid market will continue to consolidate at a low level, with limited upward and downward space. Unless there is an unexpected improvement on the demand side (such as large-scale downstream centralized procurement, a significant increase in export orders), or a significant increase in the cost side (propylene) price, it is difficult for prices to continue to rise. If the price of propylene on the cost side collapses or downstream demand remains sluggish, high inventory and weak demand will continue to suppress the market.
In the medium to long term, the acrylic acid industry is undergoing a transition from “scale competition” to “technology premium era”. Top enterprises rely on technological iteration and industrial chain integration to build barriers, while small and medium-sized enterprises face increased survival pressure due to insufficient technological investment, making it difficult to meet high-end demands such as medical grade and electronic grade acrylic acid.
In summary, the core feature of the current market is the intense game between “weak demand” and “high cost”, which leads to a dilemma of price fluctuations and an overall shift in focus. Market participants generally adopt a wait-and-see attitude.