Melamine Price Trend and Forecast: Top 10 Leading Trading Countries and Regions - Latest Edition [2026]

The Expert Market Research pricing report on Melamine provides insights into the top 10 leading trading countries and regions

In 2024, the global melamine price trends encountered significant challenges, primarily due to oversupply and weakened demand across key regions. In Q1 of 2025, prices remained under pressure globally due to subdued market activity during the Lunar New Year in Asia, seasonal slowdowns in Europe and North America, and limited cost support from feedstock urea. China, which is a major producer, experienced reduced pricing due to softened energy prices and weak demand from sectors like laminates and coatings.

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Melamine finds extensive application in the manufacture of melamine-formaldehyde resins, which are highly valued for their strength, thermal stability, and appearance. These resins are used widely in decorative laminates, cookware, surface coatings, adhesives, and molding compounds. In construction and furniture sectors, melamine is employed to improve the quality of laminates and particle boards. It is also employed in flame retardants, textiles, and car interior materials. Its range, combined with high bonding and resisting properties, makes melamine an essential input to several industrial and consumer products.

Melamine Price Forecast

Factors affecting melamine prices in 2024 were excess capacity, weak demand from downstream industries such as laminates and coatings, and risk-averse purchasing, especially from China, Europe, and North America. New Chinese capacities oversupply and weak global construction activity resulted in consistently low prices up to late 2024. Entering 2025, the prices continued to struggle in January when melamine prices remained under pressure due to sustained weak demand, elevated inventories, and limited cost support from feedstock urea. While Europe and North America faced holiday slowdowns and adverse weather impacts on construction demand. Though a small rebound was expected in the Asia-Pacific market in advance of spring holidays, North American and European markets were likely to stay weak because of oversupply and economic instabilities.

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Global Trade and Supply Chain Implications

The international trade of melamine in 2024 was characterized by risk-averse purchasing, high stocks, and regional imbalances, all of which put pressure on the supply chain and limited market recovery. In 2024, the international melamine market continued to be under pressure from early oversupply and subdued downstream demand.

In Asia and notably China, new capacities brought online by producers such as Xinjiang Yankuang and Shaanxi Longhua resulted in an oversupplied market, while dented consumption by end-use sectors such as laminates, coatings, and plastics was reinforced by slowing construction that maintained high stockpiles and low prices.  In the first half, North America saw a price hike because of robust building activity, but the momentum was lost due to supply chain bottlenecks, higher costs, and weak downstream demand, leading to volatile prices throughout the year. European markets also saw price advances due to constricted availability and energy prices, followed by a second-half slump as supply eased and demand was weak, despite plant restarts such as LAT Nitrogen's Linz facility.

Feedstock Analysis

Melamine is produced from the conversion of urea, which is its primary feedstock, representing almost 70–80% of production. Thermal decomposition of urea under elevated temperature and pressure is utilised in the conversion process to produce melamine, as well as byproducts such as ammonia and carbon dioxide. Hence, the price elasticity and availability of urea, which is produced from natural gas or coal, are directly responsible for melamine production economics. For natural gas-dependent countries such as China, melamine manufacture is frequently combined with coal-based urea plants, and thus becomes more cost-competitive, while in natural gas-dependent areas such as Europe or the Middle East, energy market price fluctuations can have a big influence on melamine margins.

Demand and Supply Outlook for Melamine

Global demand for melamine is expected to increase steadily led mainly by its widespread application in laminates, adhesives, and surface coatings in the construction, furniture, and automotive industries. Asia-Pacific, and more specifically China and India, is the largest and fastest-growing consumer on account of infrastructure growth and urbanization. The supply side is predominantly concentrated in Asia with China producing more than half of the world's supply. Although capacity additions in China and Iran have mitigated supply tightness, feedstock price volatility and regulatory pressures persist to impact production economics. Interim trade imbalances through short-term variations in trade dynamics, particularly caused by anti-dumping tariffs and export quotas, can induce regional supply imbalances, but the long term situation is expected to be balanced with a moderate surplus capacity.

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