In the China methanol market, prices have been bearish since November owing to slack supply/demand.

On the supply side, imported cargoes are flowing in continuously. Therefore, inventories at ports in areas along the coast are high. In addition, operation rates of methanol facilities in the country are high and sellers are under pressure. On the demand side, several derivative facilities entered maintenance. Some derivative makers decreased operation rates due to worsening profitability. Yangmeihengtong's coal-to-olefins (CTO) facility entered maintenance on Nov 7 for 25 days. Ningbo Fude's methanol-to-olefins (MTO) facility is also expected to enter maintenance in December.

To foresee the market going forward, players focus on the restart of methanol facilities and derivative facilities. They also pay attention to how inventories are increasing during winter.

The schedule of maintenance at methanol facilities in Northwestern China is as follows.