March 30th, 2026
CCM Market Insight (March 2026)
Production:
Currently, production is broadly restricted due to the combined pressures of kiln upgrading and environmental inspections. Almost all enterprises using traditional shaft kilns have completely stopped calcination.
Enterprises who has new-type kilns, such as rotary kilns and flash kilns, are capable of production but still face frequent shutdowns to meet strict environmental inspection requirements, leading to unstable production schedules.
On this background:
Inventory: Some enterprises with regular stocks still have products available, but prices are generally high.
One thing is that, due to extended storage periods and limited storage conditions, some stocked products have shown quality issues such as degradation of purity.
Overall supply: Though extreme supply shortages have not occurred, supply capacity has tightened significantly. General lead times have become longer with more uncertainty.
Price Trends:
Driven by supply tightness, market prices have risen significantly. As of March, the price of CCM finished products has increased by RMB 50–80/mt compared to January and February.
However, on the other hand, due to weak demand, most buyers are purchasing only for essential needs. Overall order deal activity actually remains sluggish.
The price increase has not been fully accepted by the market, and concluding sales at high prices is proving difficult.
Market Insight:
Short-term (April): Environmental inspections are expected to continue through the end of April. During this period, production will remain tightly controlled, and supply is unlikely to improve significantly.
Prices are expected to remain at high level with barely room to decrease.
Medium-term (after environmental inspections): Following the environmental inspections, it is highly likely that the implementation of kilns upgrading policy will continue.
The pace of production recovery will still be constrained. Supply shortage is going to persist, and prices are expected to remain firm, with no significant dropping in the near term.
In general, the current market is now of "tight supply, rising prices, weak demand."
Production is restricted by both kiln upgrading and environmental inspections, slowing the supply recovery and maintaining the high prices.
It is expected that this situation will not change much in the next 1-2 months, and the market price will remain at a high level.
