Plastics and Rubber Industries Bulk Commodity Intelligence (July 30, 2026)

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Macroeconomics

1. [Fed Interest Rates] The Federal Reserve announced that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) agreed to maintain the target range to the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%, marking the fifth consecutive time this year that the Fed has kept rates unchanged.

2. [Automotive] Data released by the CPCA (China Passenger Car Association) shows that from July 1 to 26, national retail sales of passenger cars totaled 1.123 million units, down 18% year-on-year and 13% compared to the same period last month; cumulative retail sales to the year reached 9.824 million units, a year-on-year decline of 20%. During the same period, retail sales of new energy passenger cars totaled 738,000 units, down 2% year-on-year and 10% compared to the same period last month, with cumulative sales to the year reaching 5.443 million units, down 13% year-on-year. The retail penetration rate to new energy passenger cars stood at 65.7% during this period.

Plastics and Rubber

1. [PE] On July 29, regarding Sinopec-SK (Wuhan) Petrochemical's PE units: the 300,000-ton/year Phase I HDPE unit is shut down, and the 300,000-ton/year LLDPE unit is producing grade 2320H.

2. [PP] Dongming Petrochemical Hengchang's PP unit (capacity: 200,000 tons/year) underwent a full-line shutdown to maintenance on July 27; the restart date has not been announced.

Sinopec-SK (Wuhan) Petrochemical operates three PP production units with a combined capacity of 700,000 tons/year. Currently, Lines 1 and 3 are operating at healthy load; Line 2 was temporarily shut down to maintenance on July 21, with a scheduled restart date of August 18.

3. [Natural Rubber] On July 29, the natural rubber market in the Qingdao area trended downward due to weak sentiment. Traders lowered their offers by 200–300 RMB/ton. Prevailing quotes to 2024-production Yunbao/Guangkeng/Haibao rubber were 16,400–16,600 RMB/ton; to 2025-production Yunbao/Guangkeng/Haibao, quotes were 16,500–16,700 RMB/ton; and to Vietnamese 3L rubber, quotes were 17,650–17,800 RMB/ton.

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