Source of the picture: VCG

Key words of the passage: market; pyridine; price; oil

At present, China has a huge production capacity of methylpyridine, distributed mainly in Jiangsu and Shandong. Before 2000, the traditional coal tar separation method was applied to produce pyridine, with a production capacity of less than 200 tons/year, which seriously restricted the development and production of downstream products. Today, the traditional method is replaced by synthetic method, which accounts for over 95% of the total output. The global production capacity of pyridines exceeds 100,000 tons per year. The largest four manufacturers are the USA, Europe, Japan and China, accounting for over 86.75% of the total global output of pyridine compounds.

Pyridine derivatives involve too many products, and the price correlation is not high and varies. To understand the market and price trends of this category of products, four products widely used in the agrochemical market are selected and analyzed as follows.

1. 2-chloro-5-chloromethylpyridine (CCMP)

In 2017, China’s sharp and severe environmental pressure pushed CCMP’s price to its highest level in recent years. During 2018-2019, with more companies satisfying the environmental requirements, the production capacity of CCMP increased and the price gradually fell back. In 2020, the price fell below RMB80,000/t, to the lowest point in recent years. There are two main contributing factors. The first is that the imidacloprid price remained sluggish for a long time in 2020. The second is the vicious competition among CCMP manufacturers in the market, represented by malicious price cuts, with some product prices below the production cost, just for seizing the market share. The second factor is the core reason for the disruption of the CCMP market.

In 2021, the unhealthy market situation gradually returned reasonably due to the rising raw material prices and environmental pressure, and the price rebounded to around RMB94,000/t. With the increase of raw material cost, the CCMP price is still upward. Since the issuance of the national policy on controlling the amount and intensity of carbon emissions in September 2021, some small factories were shut down due to soaring raw material prices. The price of CCMP gradually peaked RMB170,000-190,000/t. By the end of December 2021, the market gradually cooled down, the price of raw materials stabilized, and the price of CCMP was maintained at the level of RMB150,000-160,000/t.

2. 2,3-dichloro-5-trifluoromethyl pyridine (DCTF)

The sudden soaring price did not happen to DCTF when the environmental pressure increased in 2017. But for this reason, the price was maintained at about RMB210,000-220,000/t during 2018-2020. Since the second half of 2020, the DCTF price dropped to below RMB180,000/t after the price collapse of the upstream intermediate CCMP. The cost of DCTF also experienced sharp rise due to the fluctuation of raw material prices since the issuance of the national policy on controlling the amount and intensity of carbon emissions. By the end of December 2021, the market price of DCTF was about RMB240,000/t. Considering the rising cost of the raw materials of CCMP, the upstream intermediate of DCTF, the price of DCTF is expected to rise accordingly.

3. 2-chloro-5-trifluoromethyl pyridine (CTF)

The price of CTF has been maintained at RMB230,000-240,000/t since the price rise due to the environmental pressure starting from 2017.

4. 2-chloro-6-trichloromethyl pyridine (CTC)

The price of CTC is relatively stable and has been maintained at around RMB110,000/t.

Source: AgroNews