A week passed in a flash, and this week the silicone market continued to operate steadily and positively. From the on-site perspective, following the partial closure of individual factories, DMC prices have not been adjusted yet, and the second round of emission reduction coordination meeting will be held this Sunday. The meeting aims to consolidate the previous emission reduction achievements, further explore the feedback of supervision mechanism operation, phased emission reduction deployment, and industry collaboration measures, in order to get rid of disorderly low price competition and promote sustainable recovery of the industry. In this situation, the market's bullish sentiment is heating up. In terms of demand, due to the insufficient driving force of terminal consumption, the demand for stocking up at the end of the year has not been released yet. However, as individual factories are gradually promoting their emission reduction layout, the enthusiasm of midstream and downstream enterprises for stocking up is relatively high under the expectation of supply contraction. Currently, they are digesting early inventory while making small purchases in segments, and the overall transaction atmosphere is flat. Looking at it now, with the gradual release of demand, some individual factories with low quotes are gradually tightening their prices, and the transaction price continues to tentatively increase slightly, further promoting the arrival of a phased upward trend.
In addition, platinum prices continued to soar at the end of the year. As of December 18th, the domestic spot platinum price was 513 yuan/gram, with a cumulative increase of nearly 90% during the year; The main domestic platinum futures contract continues to be strong, with a closing price of 542.6 yuan/gram at 2606, setting a new high since its listing. In the international market, the price of NYMEX platinum futures has exceeded $1933 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 110% during the year, far exceeding the 64% increase of gold during the same period; The spot platinum price simultaneously rose to $1933.4 per ounce. The continuous surge of platinum has led to a significant increase in the cost of chloroplatinic acid. Currently, the tax inclusive price of chloroplatinic acid has risen to 195 yuan/gram. Under the increasing cost, the profits of silicone additive companies have been severely squeezed. In the early stage, they mostly absorbed the increase on their own to stabilize customers. However, after more than half a year of platinum gold skyrocketing, many companies have had to raise the price of platinum additives again, implementing a policy of one price per order. At the same time, the market price of platinum catalysts has reached 2800 yuan/kg (including tax and shipping).
The current platinum price is still soaring, and platinum catalyst and vulcanizing agent companies are struggling to maintain their own profits. While issuing price increase letters, actual transactions are still mainly negotiated on a single basis, and prices are flexibly adjusted based on real-time purchase prices to control costs. At the same time, stimulated by the rise in aid prices, some silicon product factories have also collaborated with additive factories to lock up quantities of chloroplatinic acid suppliers in advance to avoid the risk of price increases.
In terms of industrial silicon, due to factors such as environmental protection, silicon plants in the northwest region have reduced production, and the willingness to raise prices has increased accordingly. However, in the southwest region, during the seasonal dry season, the production capacity has been tightened, but supply pressure still exists. In terms of demand, polycrystalline silicon enterprises have maintained production cuts, and the organic silicon industry has also reached a linkage production reduction mechanism, which has suppressed the demand for industrial silicon. Overall, the industry fundamentals have not substantially improved, and the clearance of high inventory is slow, making it difficult to show significant improvement in the short term. As of December 18th, the closing price of the main futures contract Si2602 was 8640 yuan/ton, and the spot price of 421 # silicon metal continued to be 9700-10200 yuan/ton. It is expected that the market will continue to fluctuate in the future.