Affected by the new epidemic situation, the global economy was hit hard in 2020, the performance of the international crude oil market was ups and downs, the OPEC+ talks broke down, and the production reduced on a super scale. In 2020, the domestic asphalt market was directly affected by the collapse of crude oil price, and the asphalt price was greatly reduced, and it had been in the low operation stage in the later stage. According to the comparison of the prices in 2018, 2019 and 2020, in 2020, the asphalt market price in 2020 was far lower than that in 2018 and 2019.
Overall, according to the data of SunSirs, as of December 31, 2020, the domestic asphalt price was 2,462 RMB/ ton, with an annual decrease of 27.23%.
At present, the world economy in 2021 may still be shrouded in the shadow of the epidemic. Although the vaccine has made a major breakthrough and entered the vaccination process, there are still many variables in the current epidemic. The most important factor of oil price around 2021 is still demand. Recently, OPEC has lowered its oil demand forecast for 2021 again. Due to the continuous impact of the new epidemic, the rebound speed of global oil demand in 2021 will be slower than previously expected. Its latest monthly report shows that the demand will increase 5.9 million barrels/ day, to 95.89 million barrels/ day in 2021. This growth is 350,000 barrels/ day lower than expected a month ago.
In 2020, the domestic oil product market demand basically returned to normal, and the fluctuation of oil product market price was mainly affected by the international crude oil price. As countries begin to vaccinate, the world economy will gradually recover in 2021, the demand of international crude oil market will continue to improve, or will return to the pre epidemic level, and the rebound of international crude oil price will continue to benefit the domestic asphalt market. Therefore, it is expected that the price China domestic asphalt market will rise in 2021 to the level at the beginning of 2020.