Early February 2026 has seen a robust start for China’s chemical raw materials market, with two core basic chemicals—styrene and n-butyl acrylate (BA)—posting sharp price gains that are sending cost ripples across the entire industrial chain. Styrene has surged past the ¥8,000 per ton threshold with a monthly increase of over 15%, while n-butyl acrylate holds firm at a high of ¥7,050 per ton (and even hits ¥7,400–7,500 per ton in South China). Driven by cost push, supply constraints and policy regulation, this synchronized price surge signals a pivotal shift for the chemical market: moving from a pattern of broad-based rises and falls to a new era of structural differentiation. While short-term market support remains, demand concerns and inventory pressures cloud the outlook, pushing the industry to prioritize cost control and innovation for long-term resilience.
A Striking Price Surge: Two Core Chemicals Lead the Market Rally
Styrene and n-butyl acrylate are widely regarded as the barometer of China’s chemical industry prosperity—styrene is a foundational monomer for synthetic resins, rubber and plastics, while n-butyl acrylate is an irreplaceable raw material for emulsions, coatings, adhesives and textile finishing agents (a high-purity, reactive ester critical for flexible, durable polymer film formation). Their concurrent price spike in early 2026 has exceeded market expectations, breaking previous forecast ranges and becoming the focal point of the chemical raw material sector.
• Styrene: Closing in on ¥8,000 per ton by late January, it has surged over 15% in a month, shattering the ¥6,500–7,500 per ton trading range that futures research institutions projected for H1 2026.
• n-Butyl Acrylate: Maintaining a firm high at ¥7,050 per ton since late January, with regional premiums in South China pushing prices even higher. This price stability at elevated levels comes despite recent mild retreats in some upstream raw materials, underscoring strong market support for this key acrylate monomer.
Triple Drivers: Cost, Supply and Policy Fuel the Price Uptick
The rare joint rally of styrene and n-butyl acrylate is not a market anomaly, but the result of the convergence of cost rigid support, supply-side contraction and macro policy regulation—three core factors that have reshaped the supply-demand balance of the chemical raw material market.
Cost Push: Upstream Raw Material Strength Provides Direct Impetus
Cost pressure is the primary driver of this price surge, with upstream value chain movements delivering rigid support for both chemicals:
• Styrene: Its key raw material pure benzene, alongside international crude oil, has seen strengthened pricing. Though pure benzene faces long-term oversupply and high inventory risks, short-term crude oil volatility and concentrated maintenance at overseas pure benzene plants have created a phased supply crunch, lifting styrene’s production costs. Additionally, a surge in export inquiries and transactions for Chinese styrene has diverted domestic supply, further bolstering prices.
• n-Butyl Acrylate: January supply shortages and sharp price gains for its core raw material n-butanol have created sustained cost pressure for BA producers. Even with a recent mild pullback in n-butanol prices, the earlier cost surge has already been fully transmitted downstream, underpinning BA’s high price operation.
Supply Contraction: Plant Maintenance and Low Operating Rates Tighten Supply
Supply-side constraints have amplified the price rally, with both industries grappling with reduced production capacity and low operating rates:
• Styrene: From late 2025 to early 2026, several large domestic styrene plants (including Chambroad, Sinoy and Tianjin Bohua Chemical) have entered unplanned shutdown maintenance with uncertain restart timelines, pushing the industry’s overall operating rate to a historical low and creating a clear supply gap.
• n-Butyl Acrylate: While the industry’s operating rate has seen a modest recovery, it remains stuck at around 70%—well below full capacity—ensuring the market stays in a tight supply state that supports high prices.
Policy Regulation: Supply-Side Reform Optimizes the Market Structure
National industrial policy has provided a macro backdrop for the price shift, with the Work Plan for Stabilizing Growth in the Petrochemical and Chemical Industry (2025-2026) acting as a key catalyst. The plan’s regulatory framework of limiting new capacity and eliminating outdated capacity has phased out tens of millions of tons of inefficient chemical production capacity nationwide, fundamentally optimizing the industry’s supply-demand structure. This structural adjustment has shifted the market from a long-standing state of oversupply to a tight balance, laying the groundwork for the sustained high operation of core raw material prices.
Cost Transmission: Emulsion Industry Leads Hikes, Midstream Margins Squeezed
The sharp price gains of styrene and n-butyl acrylate have quickly rippled down the industrial chain, squeezing profit margins for midstream and downstream enterprises and triggering a wave of price adjustments—with the emulsion industry, a direct downstream consumer of both chemicals, leading the charge.
Styrene and n-butyl acrylate are the two core monomers for synthesizing styrene-acrylic emulsions, the backbone of architectural coatings, waterproofing products and industrial coatings. Faced with uncontrollable raw material cost surges, leading domestic emulsion manufacturers including Badafu and Hengheyongsheng have successively issued price adjustment notices, raising prices for their coating and waterproofing products to pass on cost pressures. Many emulsion producers have explicitly stated in their notices that product prices face further upward risks due to ongoing raw material market volatility, highlighting the severe cost control challenges for midstream enterprises in the chemical chain.
For the broader downstream sector—including coatings, adhesives, plastics and textiles (key application areas for n-butyl acrylate)—the cost surge has created a double squeeze: enterprises either absorb the cost increases and see shrinking margins, or raise product prices and risk losing market share amid weak pre-holiday demand. This stress test is hitting every link of the chemical industry, from raw material producers to end-product manufacturers.
Market Outlook: Short-Term Support, Long-Term Uncertainty and Structural Differentiation
Market sentiment toward the subsequent trend of styrene and n-butyl acrylate is a mix of caution and divergence, with short-term support factors coexisting with emerging downside risks—while the long-term outlook points to a new era of structural differentiation for China’s chemical market in 2026.
Short-Term: Firm Highs Amid Rising Risks
Industry analysts (including Cui Jing from JLC Jinlianchuang) predict that styrene prices will maintain a strong, volatile trend before the Spring Festival, supported by tight supply and cost rigidities. The n-butyl acrylate market, meanwhile, is set to continue its firm high operation as upstream and downstream negotiations on new price levels progress.
However, significant downside risks are emerging: on the demand side, surging raw material prices have severely compressed downstream profits, with some enterprises planning production cuts or even temporary shutdowns; pre-holiday procurement activity is also weakening, further dampening demand for raw materials. On the supply side, styrene’s core raw material pure benzene faces heavy port inventory pressure, which is expected to cap styrene’s upward potential and limit further price gains.
Long-Term: Structural Differentiation to Define the 2026 Chemical Market
The joint rally of styrene and n-butyl acrylate is more than a short-term market fluctuation—it heralds a fundamental shift in China’s chemical industry in 2026, with the sector set to bid farewell to the crude pattern of broad-based rises and falls and embrace a new phase characterized by upward cycle, structural differentiation and gradient increases.
Demand growth in high-end segments such as new energy and new materials, coupled with uneven recovery in traditional sectors (coatings, textiles, plastics), will lead to significant performance divergences across chemical sub-sectors. Additionally, China’s pure benzene-styrene industrial chain is entering the tail end of its capacity expansion cycle, with the market set to undergo a period of consolidation and momentum accumulation in 2026, laying the groundwork for a longer cyclical turnaround in the years ahead.
For n-butyl acrylate specifically, its long-term demand outlook remains supported by its wide application in high-growth areas such as water-based coatings (aligned with environmental policies), pressure-sensitive adhesives and biodegradable materials—segments where high-purity, consistent-quality BA (like the offerings from Achilles Chem, a reliable alternative to Dow, BASF and Arkema) is in steady demand.
Industry Imperative: Build Core Competitiveness Amid Structural Change
The cost-driven price surge and subsequent industrial chain stress test have made one thing clear: for Chinese chemical enterprises, a short-term mindset of relying on market price fluctuations for profits is no longer viable. As structural differentiation becomes the new norm, building core competitiveness spanning cost control, supply chain management and product innovation is the key to navigating market volatility and seizing growth opportunities.
Enterprises that can optimize their production processes to reduce raw material consumption, build resilient supply chains to mitigate raw material price risks, and innovate high-value-added products for emerging demand segments (e.g., low-carbon coatings, high-performance adhesives, new energy plastics) will occupy a more favorable position in the reshaped chemical market landscape. For midstream and downstream enterprises, deepening cooperation with reliable raw material suppliers to lock in stable pricing and supply will also be a critical strategy to mitigate cost volatility risks.
Conclusion: Cost Pressures Trigger a Deep Structural Adjustment
Styrene breaking the ¥8,000 mark and n-butyl acrylate holding firm at high levels is more than just a price rally—it is a catalyst for a deep structural adjustment of China’s chemical raw material industry. The triple drivers of cost, supply and policy have reshaped the market’s supply-demand balance, and the ensuing cost transmission is testing the resilience of every link in the industrial chain.
As the industry moves into an era of structural differentiation, the days of broad-based market moves are over. Instead, success will hinge on an enterprise’s ability to adapt to changing market dynamics, control costs, and innovate for high-end demand. For the entire chemical chain—from raw material producers of styrene and n-butyl acrylate to downstream coating, adhesive and textile manufacturers—this cost surge is both a challenge and an opportunity: an opportunity to shed inefficient production, innovate for the future, and build a more resilient, high-quality industrial ecosystem for the years ahead.
