Methyl Methacrylate Prices Rose 10% After Plant Outages
Manufacturers of acrylic products should account for higher raw material costs following recent supply tightening in Asia.
Updated on Sept. 25, 2026 in Manufacturing
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Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) prices increased 10 percent for the week ending September 18, 2026, as planned maintenance and reduced operating rates at major facilities in China, Singapore, and South Korea constrained global supply.
Why it matters
The convergence of multiple regional facility slowdowns created an immediate inventory shortage, forcing manufacturers reliant on MMA to absorb higher input costs. This disruption highlights the volatility inherent in chemical supply chains when large-scale producers simultaneously adjust operations.
MMA prices hit USD 1,745 per metric tonne as of September 18, 2026, a 10 percent weekly increase. Major disruptions included the removal of 7,500 tonnes of monthly capacity at Zhejiang Petrochemical and operating rates at Sumitomo Chemical that dropped to 3,097 tonnes per month.
The players
Zhejiang Petrochemical Company
A major Chinese petrochemical producer that operates large-scale refining and chemical processing infrastructure.
Sumitomo Chemical Asia
The Singaporean subsidiary of a global Japanese diversified chemical manufacturer.
LG Chem
A leading South Korean chemical company with extensive global operations in petrochemicals and advanced materials.
Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical Co., Ltd.
A Chinese industrial chemical manufacturer specializing in methyl methacrylate and other petrochemical derivatives.
The details
The price surge followed concurrent facility maintenance schedules that significantly restricted available inventory. Zhejiang Petrochemical Company suspended 7,500 tonnes of monthly capacity, while Sumitomo Chemical and LG Chem operated at reduced rates, lowering their active output to 3,097 tonnes and 29,792 tonnes per month, respectively. These supply constraints forced immediate price corrections in the Ex-Qingdao market as buyers competed for a limited supply of the chemical intermediate.
Timeline
Maintenance at Zibo Qixiang Tengda and Sumitomo Chemical began on August 1, 2026.
Zhejiang Petrochemical maintenance began and Zibo Qixiang Tengda restarted on August 20, 2026.
LG Chem began operating at reduced rates on September 1, 2026.
Zhejiang Petrochemical and LG Chem returned to full operations on September 15, 2026.
Sumitomo Chemical returned to normal operations on September 25, 2026.
Market Landscape
This regional tightening follows a pattern set by the 2021 global chemical supply chain disruptions, where concentrated production outages created outsized price impacts for downstream manufacturers. The event underscores how sensitive global MMA pricing remains to localized maintenance schedules in primary Asian production hubs.
Operators should review current inventory levels and expect continued price support until regional plants fully stabilize output. Purchasing teams should monitor ex-factory pricing benchmarks in China to anticipate potential pass-through costs in finished acrylic products.
The takeaway
Concentrated maintenance at major chemical hubs can trigger rapid, regionalized price spikes for essential manufacturing inputs. Operators should implement flexible procurement strategies to hedge against these supply fluctuations and track weekly price assessments to time their inventory replenishment.
Further reading
For more on operational impacts in this sector, visit our Manufacturing section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Chemanalyst.
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Do supply chain disruptions at industrial plants justify higher prices for end-market goods?
