According to the latest data forecast by the coating industry association, the output decline of China’s coating industry will continue to narrow in 2026, but the industry recovery momentum is still weak. The growth rate of main business income will only maintain 1%-2%, and the growth rate of total profit will narrow to about 8%, far lower than the normal level in previous years. At present, most coating enterprises are faced with insufficient orders and low operating rates, and the procurement volume of ethyl acetate in the coating industry continues to shrink.
In addition to the coating field, the core downstream industries such as adhesives, packaging and printing, and inks also performed flat. Affected by the sluggish demand in the terminal real estate and packaging consumer markets, downstream enterprises mainly destock, with few new spot procurement orders. The rigid demand consumption of ethyl acetate for ink printing and adhesives is limited. The overall market only has a small amount of rigid demand replenishment, with light trading and insufficient incremental demand, failing to drive market recovery.
3. Future Market Outlook
Based on the comprehensive analysis of current supply and demand, cost and seasonal factors, the
Chinese ethyl acetate market trend will maintain a weak consolidation and regional differentiated operation pattern in the short term. There is no obvious disturbance on the cost side, and the core market game focuses on the regional supply difference and the weak off-season demand of downstream products.
On the positive side, the supply tightening effect caused by the maintenance of northern plants still exists, and rigid demand procurement provides certain bottom support for market prices, limiting the sharp decline space of prices. On the negative side, the continuous impact of loose southern China goods on the market, sluggish operation of the whole downstream industry and the arrival of the traditional off-season in June have suppressed the upward space of the market.
