(August 11, 2026)On August 11, 2026, China’s white carbon black industry reached the mid-August operational stage. After a period of market wait-and-see sentiment, downstream end users have gradually commenced stockpiling, and overall trading activity has markedly picked up compared with the sluggish July off-season. Upstream raw materials including soda ash, water glass and organosilicon monomers have posted steady mild increases, forming solid cost support. The traditional rubber goods sector has entered its pre-peak inventory cycle, while demand growth for photovoltaic encapsulation, energy storage electronics and new energy vehicle supporting materials continues to expand, collectively pushing white carbon black prices slightly higher. Nevertheless, structural industrial contradictions remain prominent. The overcapacity and inventory backlog of conventional precipitated silica cannot be resolved rapidly, limiting room for price hikes. High-end modified silica tailored for green tires and electronic sealing materials remains in tight supply with abundant domestic and overseas orders, continuously widening price gaps between different product grades.

　　In terms of regional quotations, price gaps across regions and product categories have expanded further this week. Industrial monitoring data shows that the national average price of precipitated silica has edged upward moderately. As China’s core production and trading hub, East China quotes tax-inclusive ex-factory prices ranging from 6,050 to 6,400 yuan per ton for high-dispersion precipitated silica dedicated to new energy tires. In production areas spanning Shandong, Hebei and Fujian across northern and southern China, sales pressure weighs heavily on general industrial-grade precipitated silica, with spot transaction prices concentrated between 5,300 and 5,860 yuan per ton. Dragged down by slack demand, low-end filler-grade silica stays depressed at an average market price below 2,780 yuan per ton. High-purity specialty silica for food anti-caking agents and pharmaceutical excipients maintains firm pricing above 6,700 yuan per ton thanks to technical barriers and steady rigid demand. Supported by tightened upstream organosilicon supply, the fumed silica market remains robust. Domestic conventional hydrophilic fumed silica is priced at 20,400–24,000 yuan per ton, while premium hydrophobically modified grades hold steady at 25,800–29,000 yuan per ton. Imported high-end fumed silica suffers from acute spot shortages, with order deliveries generally postponed to late September and quotations ranging from 29,500 to 39,500 yuan per ton.

　　Gradually rising raw material costs keep underpinning the market price floor. Soda ash, a core feedstock for precipitated silica production, has entered a concentrated equipment maintenance period, reducing market circulation and lifting spot prices by more than 500 yuan per ton month-on-month. Sulfuric acid prices have risen moderately amid rebounding operating rates in downstream fertilizer and metallurgical industries alongside routine plant maintenance. Stable quotations for industrial silicon and methylchlorosilanes have directly increased production costs for fumed silica. Meanwhile, China’s environmental protection and energy consumption regulations have grown increasingly stringent. Mandatory standards covering wastewater recycling, by-product sodium sulfate recovery and energy consumption caps per unit product have been fully enforced. A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises with outdated technology and substandard environmental compliance have been forced to cut capacity or withdraw from the market, continuously boosting industrial capacity concentration and curbing disorderly low-price competition.

　　Downstream demand follows a dual-driving model: recovery in traditional sectors and robust expansion of emerging tracks. The tire and rubber industry remains the largest consumption field for white carbon black. As the traditional peak sales season draws near, major domestic tire manufacturers have steadily raised production line operating rates. Formulations for new energy vehicle tires are being continuously optimized, lifting the proportion of high-dispersion silica year by year. Capable of lowering rolling resistance, extending driving range and enhancing wet pavement grip, these products boast full order backlogs and sound production and sales performance. Manufacturers of rubber hoses, sealing parts, rubber footwear and other traditional rubber and plastic products only conduct small-scale on-demand replenishment without large-scale bulk stockpiling.

　　Demand from coatings, home decoration and outdoor building protection sectors has been steadily released. The comprehensive popularization of water-based eco-friendly coatings has driven rising consumption of white carbon black as rheology modifiers, matting agents and anti-settling additives. In autumn, exterior wall renovation, stone maintenance and concrete waterproofing and anti-seepage projects launch intensively, expanding application scenarios for hydrophobic silica matched with silane systems. Silicone sealants for photovoltaic encapsulation, potting adhesives for energy storage modules and insulating silicone rubber for electronic components have emerged as major new growth drivers. Steady expansion of domestic photovoltaic installed capacity has fueled demand for silicone rubber, pushing the year-on-year consumption growth rate of white carbon black in this segment above 15%. Trial orders and bulk procurement requests for ultra-fine modified precipitated silica and hydrophobic fumed silica keep pouring in. In addition, steady demand growth from fine chemical segments including pesticide sustained-release carriers, daily chemical additives and feed anti-caking agents has continuously broadened the overall application landscape of white carbon black.

　　Production schedules differ drastically across suppliers. The precipitated silica sector boasts massive overall capacity, and inventories of conventional generic products remain excessively high. To avert inventory accumulation, small and medium-sized manufacturers maintain operating rates between 74% and 81%, adopting the produce-to-order model and curbing output of low-end products. Leading enterprises have taken the initiative to optimize product mix by cutting capacity for low-priced generic goods and prioritizing the production of high-dispersion tire-specific, hydrophobically modified and ultra-fine functional silica, which effectively digests inventories and lifts overall profitability. Restrained by insufficient upstream organosilicon feedstock supply, the overall operating rate of the fumed silica sector stays low at 65%–68%, with limited spot inventories and strong resistance to price declines. Exports maintain solid momentum. Steady demand growth for infrastructure and construction materials in Southeast Asia, green tires in Europe, and rubber and plastic processing products in Latin America has lifted global recognition of high-performance Chinese white carbon black, generating abundant overseas orders that effectively alleviate vicious competition in the domestic low-end market and serve as a vital engine for industrial revenue growth.

　　Green technological upgrading and high-end R&D within the industry are advancing rapidly. Domestic new material enterprises have continuously made breakthroughs in core preparation technologies for high-dispersion silica, bringing key indicators including reinforcement performance, weather resistance, anti-aging property and wear resistance gradually in line with top international standards and accelerating import substitution for high-end products. The wide rollout of wastewater resource recycling and by-product recovery and reuse has eased environmental emission pressure while lowering comprehensive production costs for manufacturers. On the global stage, major overseas chemical conglomerates keep expanding white carbon black capacity in North America to support green tire manufacturing. This creates more overseas opportunities for Chinese enterprises while intensifying international market competition.

　　Based on comprehensive analysis by multiple industrial research institutions, the traditional peak consumption season will fully unfold from late August to early September. Tire and rubber goods manufacturers will ramp up stockpiling efforts, and stable upstream raw material costs will underpin a mild upward trend for the overall white carbon black market. However, excess capacity of conventional precipitated silica cannot be fully digested in the short term, leaving limited room for sharp price hikes; prices will generally trend upward slightly amid fluctuations. High-dispersion tire-specific silica, hydrophobic fumed silica and new energy-oriented modified silica will stay in tight supply, with price trends far outperforming ordinary industrial-grade varieties. In the long run, phasing out backward low-end capacity, intensifying R&D into functional modification, seizing opportunities brought by new energy development and consolidating overseas export channels constitute the inevitable path for China’s white carbon black industry to escape vicious low-price competition and achieve high-quality, sustainable development.