Statistics Bureau: In April, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 4.1% year-on-year; The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3724.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%; The national urban survey unemployment rate was 5.2%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous period. From January to April, the national fixed assets investment (excluding farmers) was 14129.3 billion yuan, down 1.6% year on year.
Rising by 40%, another chemical product has skyrocketed! According to official media, due to the obstruction of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East, the cost of the global petrochemical industry chain has risen comprehensively. Against the backdrop of continuously rising raw material costs, the price of hydrofluoric acid, which is the core material for chip manufacturing in the semiconductor industry chain, has recently experienced an explosive rise. Data shows that since the beginning of 2026, the cumulative price increase of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid has reached 40%, and the prices of other related varieties have also broken historical records.
According to South Korean media TheElec, several South Korean manufacturers of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, including Solbrain, ENF Technology, and Huseong, have officially purchased relevant raw materials from China starting this month, with a significant increase of about 40% in purchase prices compared to the beginning of the year. These companies mix imported anhydrous hydrofluoric acid (AHF) with ultrapure water and undergo multiple precision purification processes to produce electronic grade hydrofluoric acid (EG-HF), which is ultimately supplied to local semiconductor giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
According to market news, facing the rigid increase in raw material costs, South Korean suppliers are planning to transmit pressure downstream and are expected to continue raising the supply price of electronic grade hydrofluoric acid from June to July.
The severe price fluctuations in the hydrofluoric acid industry chain this time are rooted in the shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is the core channel for global sulfur transportation, and the obstruction of shipping directly leads to a shortage of over 30% of global sulfur supply. As the core raw material for the production of sulfuric acid, the shortage of sulfur has driven the price of sulfuric acid to soar significantly, which has fundamentally changed the production cost structure of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid and driven the terminal market price to continue to rise.
Wednesday (May 20th) Organic Silicon Market Observation: Doubtful Cost Support, Downstream Differentiation, and Widening Price Difference between 107 Glue and DMC
Entering late May, the mainstream average price of the domestic silicone market has temporarily stabilized, and the market trend in June is gradually becoming clear. As of May 19th, the mainstream quotation range for DMC is 14800-15300 yuan/ton, the Xinjiang market for metal silicon 421 # is stable at 9300-9700 yuan/ton, 107 glue is quoted at 14800-15300 yuan/ton, silicone oil is quoted at 16200-16800 yuan/ton, and raw rubber is quoted at 15500-16100 yuan/ton. Overall, the current market exhibits a characteristic of "stagnation with surging undercurrents".
Supply and demand side: tight spot prices support rising prices: Currently, most individual factories still have pre-sale orders that have not been fully delivered, and spot resources are generally tight. Manufacturers do not have to worry about selling, which gives upstream enterprises the confidence to stabilize prices. According to the latest data from individual factories, the weekly average operating rate of individual units remained at 66.79% this week. Local 107 rubber units in central China have reduced their load operation, further exacerbating the shortage of spot goods. Upstream and downstream are generally digesting old orders and existing inventory, and the transaction volume of new orders is slightly flat.
But from a cost perspective, the support is not stable. The expected weak operation of upstream methanol and silicon metal prices means that the bargaining space between upstream and downstream is narrowing. More noteworthy is that recently, leading manufacturers have launched a chain operation of "price for quantity" - first significantly reducing online platform quotes, then completely canceling cash on delivery and switching to "payment before delivery", and providing targeted discounts to core customers. In the situation of tight spot market, the abnormal profit sharing operation of leading manufacturers has significantly amplified the wait-and-see sentiment in the middle and lower reaches, and many buyers dare not easily replenish their inventory. On one hand, there is no need to worry about selling to support the price, and on the other hand, there is an inverted trend that makes people afraid to buy "- this contradictory pattern is dominating the current market.