After the May Day holiday, the polyethylene market has shown even weaker performance, with cautious procurement and average transaction volume. On the one hand, during the May Day holiday, international crude oil prices continued to decline. After the holiday, plastic futures opened low and fluctuated, which had a certain impact on the operational mentality of the industry and led to a decline in the focus of market quotations. On the other hand, due to holidays, upstream petrochemical inventory has accumulated significantly compared to before holidays. As of May 9th, the high pressure report in East China is 8330-8550 yuan/ton, linear report is 8100-8230 yuan/ton, low pressure membrane report is 8100-8500 yuan/ton, low pressure wire drawing report is 8000-9100 yuan/ton, low pressure injection molding report is 7950-8050 yuan/ton, and low pressure hollow report is 7850-8100 yuan/ton.

From a supply perspective, there was an increase in domestic participation in the maintenance of devices in May. The Yantai Wanhua full density device will be shut down for maintenance starting from May 1st, with a planned maintenance period until early June; The old full density unit of Lanzhou Petrochemical stopped due to a malfunction on May 9th, and the current start-up time is yet to be determined; The Ningxia Baofeng full density device was shut down on May 4th, with a planned maintenance period of one month; Dushanzi's new low-voltage device was temporarily shut down and cleaned on May 6th, and restarted for operation on May 9th; Zhejiang Petrochemical's 450000 ton/year full density second line plan for maintenance for 13 days starting from May 15th; According to Jin Lianchuang's statistics, as of now, it is estimated that the loss of domestic new maintenance enterprises in May will be approximately 143500 tons.

From the perspective of demand, agricultural film production ended in April and the overall operating level decreased. May and June are the traditional off-season for domestic demand, and product companies are gradually weakening their consumption of raw materials. Most purchases are made on a per order basis, and overall demand is expected to be relatively weak.

From the perspective of crude oil, entering May, the international crude oil market has been affected by the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and the resurgence of the banking crisis, and market concerns remain, causing a significant setback in oil prices. But as the future crude oil market will be affected by the arrival of the peak oil consumption season, it is expected to help drive oil prices higher. As of May 9th, international crude oil futures closed higher, with WTI closing up 0.55 US dollars per barrel, or 0.75%, to 73.71 US dollars per barrel. Brent closed up $0.43 per barrel, or 0.56%, to $77.44 per barrel. It is expected that oil prices may show a trend of first suppressing and then increasing, and future cost support may strengthen.

Overall, the overall supply and demand pattern did not change much in May, and the pressure on shipments remained unchanged. Although there will be some support for domestic petrochemical maintenance, the overall environment is still complex and severe. Product companies have not followed up on new orders well, and their cautious attitude towards terminal procurement continues. It is expected that the weak consolidation situation in the polyethylene market will not change temporarily.