Optimized Supply-Demand Pattern of Inorganic Chemicals, High-End Refined Products Usher in Growth Dividends

Since 2026, China’s inorganic chemical industry has continued to recover from the cyclical downturn with a substantially improved supply-demand pattern and steadily rising overall profitability. According to the latest data from the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, the revenue of basic inorganic chemical products increased by more than 12% year-on-year in the first half of the year. Against the backdrop of orderly capacity regulation and accelerated elimination of backward production capacity, the market of bulk inorganic raw materials has bid farewell to low-price competition, and the industry has shifted from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement.

The industry currently presents two core development trends. On the one hand, traditional bulk inorganic chemicals have achieved supply-demand rebalancing. Affected by global energy price fluctuations and domestic capacity regulation policies, the market prices of general inorganic raw materials such as soda ash, sulfate and oxides have remained stable with slight growth, strongly supported by rigid demand from downstream metallurgy, building materials, new energy and other industries, and the market circulation order has been continuously standardized. On the other hand, the demand for high-end refined inorganic chemical products has exploded. Sub-sectors including high-purity inorganic salts, functional inorganic powders and electronic-grade inorganic raw materials are widely used in emerging industries such as new energy batteries, semiconductors and photovoltaics, resulting in a growing market supply gap.

Industry analysts point out that the renovation policy for old chemical plants has been fully implemented in 2026, with stricter industry inspection standards and accelerated phase-out of inefficient backward capacity, further optimizing the supply structure of the inorganic chemical industry. In the future, enterprises with high-purity production technology, stable quality control systems and green production qualifications will dominate the market. Refinement, high-end development and green transformation will become the long-term core development direction of the inorganic chemical industry.