According to the monitoring of SunSirs, the price of NBR decreased slightly in December, with 19,166.67 RMB/ ton at the beginning of December, 2020 and 19,000.00 RMB/ ton at the end of D ecember, 2020, with a slight decrease of 0.87% in the whole month. On December 31, the NBR commodity index was 89.48, decreased by 27.65% compared with the highest point of 123.67 in the cycle (2017-02-20), and increased by 73.34% compared with the lowest point of 51.62 on March 8, 2016. (Note: period refers to the period from September 1, 2012 to now).
The price of raw materials dropped sharply, which was a drag on NBR. The price of butadiene at the beginning of the month was 9,926 RMB/ ton, and that at the end of the month was 7,751 RMB/ ton, with an overall decrease of 21.91%; the price of acrylonitrile slightly declined, and the ex-factory price of acrylonitrile Shanghai Secco at the beginning of the month was 13,000 RMB/ ton, and that at the end of the month was 12,000 RMB/ ton, with an overall decrease of 0.77%.
The downstream demand is strong, forming support for NBR. Since autumn and winter, the epidemic situation in foreign countries has become more serious, medical gloves continue to maintain a large demand, forming a certain support for NBR, and the price of carboxylated NBR latex has been strong; since winter, environmental protection has been strengthened in some regions, and the starting of downstream NBR rubber products and other enterprises has decreased as a whole. In addition, the price of raw material butadiene has dropped, and the price of NBR dry rubber has been stable and declined at the end of the month. According to the monitoring of SunSirs, the ex-factory price of Lanhua NBR N41 was lowered to 16,500 RMB/ ton, and the market quotation of Zhenjiang Nandi NBR 1052 fell to around 21,600 RMB/ ton.
SunSirs analysts believe that in the later period, on one hand, raw material prices fell, and the cost side dragged on NBR; on the other hand, environmental protection was strengthened, and the downstream construction of dry rubber declined, and the demand side slightly declined; however, the demand for carboxyl NBR for gloves is still strong, and China NBR price is expected to fluctuate in a narrow range in the later period.
