Upstream raw materials surge sharply! The chemical industry experiences a stark contrast, which niche materials are seeing counter-trend explosive growth?
High costs combined with weak demand are putting pressure on the sector’s profitability.
Data shows that the average crude oil price reached $97.17 per barrel, a year-on-year surge of 40%; coal prices increased by 31% year-on-year, and cost pressures for chemical companies continue to be prominent. On the demand side, the downstream market is generally in the off-season, with insufficient end-user restocking, leading to a general narrowing of chemical product price spreads. The weighted average EPS of the entire chemical sector is 0.28 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17%, but a quarter-on-quarter decline of 19%, fully reflecting the impact of cost pressures on quarterly profits.
Behind the overall sector data lies a significant performance gap among sub-industries. Institutional research reports indicate that the chemical industry exhibits pronounced structural differentiation in profitability, with some niche segments achieving high growth against the trend, demonstrating a “high year-on-year growth with resilience quarter-on-quarter” market performance.
Breaking through against the trend in niche markets, with significant improvements in performance across multiple sectors
Net profits in sub-sectors such as dyes, AI materials, semiconductor materials, and spandex have achieved substantial growth. Leading companies in the dye segment have shown significant performance flexibility, with Zhejiang Longsheng and Runtu Co., Ltd.’s dye business profits increasing by 81% and 537% year-on-year, respectively. The new materials sector has also performed remarkably, with Yake Technology and Capchem’s new materials business profits rising by 21% and 116% year-on-year, fully validating the growth resilience of the high-end chemical materials sector.
The ability to maintain profitability during a cost-upturn cycle is primarily supported by two factors:
In particular, the rapid expansion of the AI computing power industry continuously drives demand for electronic specialty gases, photoresist supporting materials, and other electronic chemical materials. The process of domestic substitution is further accelerating, opening up long-term growth opportunities for domestic new material companies.
The cost pass-through channel is obstructed
In stark contrast is the traditional bulk chemical sector. Enterprises in segments such as coal chemical, phosphate fertilizer, and fluorochemical face the practical difficulty of ineffective cost pass-through. While upstream oil and coal prices continue to rise, downstream absorption capacity is limited, making it difficult for enterprises to transfer the pressure of raw material price increases downstream. Most companies have seen a significant sequential decline in profitability, further intensifying the operational pressure on traditional cyclical product enterprises.
From an industry logic perspective, the chemical sector has clearly moved beyond the era of universal price fluctuations and entered a phase of strong structural trends. Traditional chemical companies that rely solely on raw material price increases for profit face greater operational pressure, whereas leading niche players with high-quality supply-demand dynamics, highly prosperous downstream markets, and domestic substitution logic exhibit significantly stronger risk resilience.
Post time: Oct-20-2026
