**: August market analysis and September market forecast

Domestic ** market this month is dominated by turbulent downtrends, with import sideways finishing at the end of the month. Sinopec Corp. has been in a steady price phase after the price increase at the beginning of the month. On the 23rd and 24th of this month, the four major subsidiaries of Sinopec Corp. lowered the factory price by RMB 280/tonne to 8,300 and 8,350 yuan/ton, which was due to the market's overcast. At the end of the month, the market price in the East China region closed at around 8,300 yuan/ton, and the market turnover was deserted. The main reasons for the continued weakness in prices this month were the stagnation of the oil price market and the weakness of the downstream market. The factors supporting the slow down trend of the pure benzene market are the tight supply of the market, and some of the recent Sinopec enterprises have entered the overhaul state. The price has continued to hang upside down with the domestic market, and imports are still difficult to reach. On the downstream side, the recent trend of styrene, aniline, cyclohexanone, phenol and other products is weak, and the market buying sentiment is weak. Together with the impact of pure benzene on the price advantage of hydrogenated benzene, the overall market demand has declined.

Here we analyze the positive and negative factors that affect the pure benzene market:

Good factors:

1. The international oil price maintains a steady trend and forms a strong support for the Asian and European markets.

2. The resources in the domestic market continued to be tight, coupled with several sets of newly built styrene units to drive in the future, and the follow-up supply was still tight;

3. After the external disk market fell back and forth, the internal and external disks were still in an upside down situation, so imported resources were still difficult to reach the domestic market;

4. There are few large holders of large singles in the market, and most of them maintain firm prices.

Negative factors:

1. The recent market price of hydrogenated benzene is slightly superior, most of the downstream factories have increased purchasing enthusiasm, and therefore have a certain impact on pure benzene;

2. The downstream styrene market oscillated in a narrow range. The trend of products such as aniline, cyclohexanone and phenol was weak and the overall demand situation was poor.

Based on the above analysis, domestic favors still dominate the mainstream, so the domestic pure benzene market is likely to rise slightly in September. In the short term, the market will maintain a narrow range of shocks without significant positive stimulus. In the later period, we paid close attention to the news and the further development of Sinopec.