Trimellitic Anhydride Price Trend and Forecast 2026-2027

Market Overview

Trimellitic anhydride (TMA) prices in Northeast Asia, the world's dominant production and pricing hub, fell sharply throughout 2025. The Northeast Asian benchmark declined from USD 4.886/KG in Q1 2025 to USD 1.810/KG in Q4 2025, a full-year contraction of 62.9%. The decline continued into Q1 2026, where prices averaged USD 1.763/KG. The sustained fall reflects a market under severe structural pressure from Chinese overcapacity, sluggish downstream demand from the wire and cable and plasticizer sectors, and intensified inter-producer competition for volume share.

Trimellitic anhydride is a benzene tricarboxylic acid anhydride used primarily as a chemical intermediate in three main applications. The first is trimellitate plasticizers, including TOTM (trioctyl trimellitate) and TINTM (triisononyl trimellitate), which are used in high-performance wire and cable insulation tolerating elevated operating temperatures. The second is polyimide coatings for heat-resistant magnet wire used in motors and transformers. The third application covers alkyd and polyester resins in coatings, adhesives, and specialty polymer applications. The wire and cable segment drives the majority of global TMA demand.

Northeast Asia, particularly China, accounts for the dominant share of global TMA production capacity. Chinese chemical producers expanded TMA output aggressively through the decade prior to 2023, driven by rising domestic demand from the power infrastructure and automotive wiring harness sectors. However, the demand growth rate has slowed markedly since 2023, while the additions to production capacity continued to arrive. The resulting capacity surplus has been the primary structural driver of the 2025 price collapse.

The pricing dynamics of TMA are also influenced by the cost of orthoxylene (OX), the primary feedstock used in TMA synthesis via catalytic liquid-phase oxidation. Orthoxylene price movements trace crude oil and aromatics complex trends. In 2025, the moderation of orthoxylene costs added a cost-push downward pressure on TMA production economics, reducing the effective production cost floor and widening the margin between producer cost and the declining market price.

Trimellitic Anhydride Price Forecast for 2026

Trimellitic anhydride prices are expected to stabilise in a compressed range through 2026, as the market gradually works through the existing supply overhang. A meaningful recovery is unlikely in the near term. The primary recovery catalyst would be a significant acceleration of power grid investment activity in China, Southeast Asia, or India, which would increase demand for wire and cable insulation and the trimellitate plasticizers that depend on TMA. Absent such demand-side recovery, pricing will likely remain anchored near the USD 1.50-2.20/KG range as Chinese producers protect volume at low margins. Some marginal capacity exits are expected as sustained sub-cost pricing forces weaker producers offline, which could provide an incremental supply-side floor late in 2026.

For the Quarter Ending March 2026

Trimellitic Anhydride Prices Q1 2026: 

• Northeast Asia: USD 1.763/KG

Trimellitic Anhydride Prices in Northeast Asia

Northeast Asian trimellitic anhydride averaged USD 1.763/KG in Q1 2026, a 2.6% decline from Q4 2025's USD 1.810/KG. The market continued to drift lower, though the pace of decline moderated significantly from the steep quarterly falls recorded through 2025. Chinese producers maintained high operating rates despite compressed margins, prioritising volume over profitability in a competitive environment. The wire and cable downstream sector displayed limited spot procurement activity in Q1, with buyers operating hand-to-mouth given the ongoing price weakness. Plasticizer producers, the primary TMA consumers, were cautious about forward volume commitments. Orthoxylene feedstock costs remained relatively stable, limiting further cost-side downward pressure while providing no meaningful cost floor support.

Why did the price of Trimellitic Anhydride change in Q1 2026 in Northeast Asia?

The 2.6% Q1 2026 price decline reflected the continuation of the structural oversupply dynamic from 2025, with Chinese producers maintaining output and buyers deferring purchases in anticipation of further weakness. The moderation in the pace of decline, relative to the steep quarterly falls in 2025, suggested the market was approaching a tentative floor without yet showing clear signs of sustained recovery.

For the Quarter Ending December 2025

Trimellitic Anhydride Prices Q4 2025: 

• Northeast Asia: USD 1.810/KG

Trimellitic Anhydride Prices in Northeast Asia

Northeast Asian trimellitic anhydride averaged USD 1.810/KG in Q4 2025, an 18.8% decline from Q3's USD 2.229/KG and the lowest quarterly average in the 2025 tracking period. The Q4 decline reflected year-end dynamics compounding the existing oversupply: Chinese producers pushed out inventory ahead of the year-end period, and downstream buyers in the wire and cable and plasticizer sectors held back from restocking, anticipating further price weakness into 2026. The normal seasonal restocking pattern that supports Q4 demand in many chemical markets was notably absent. No significant demand catalyst emerged to interrupt the downtrend, and TMA closed 2025 at the lowest price levels seen in many years.

Why did the price of Trimellitic Anhydride change in Q4 2025 in Northeast Asia?

Year-end producer inventory clearing by Chinese TMA manufacturers collided with buyer reluctance to restock ahead of anticipated further price weakness, producing the 18.8% Q4 2025 decline. Persistent structural oversupply from prior capacity additions and soft wire and cable demand prevented any seasonal price recovery.

Quarterly Trimellitic Anhydride Price Trends

Trimellitic anhydride recorded a severe and sustained price decline from Q1 2025 through Q1 2026, with no quarterly improvement across the five reporting periods. The total cumulative price fall from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026 was 63.9%, making TMA one of the worst-performing chemical intermediates of the cycle. The steepest single-quarter decline occurred in Q3 2025, when the Northeast Asian price fell 45.2% as the full severity of the oversupply became apparent to market participants and buyers accelerated inventory destocking. Q4 2025 added a further 18.8% decline. The pace moderated sharply in Q1 2026, where a 2.6% fall suggested the rate of price erosion may be approaching exhaustion, though absolute price levels remained near cycle lows.

What was Trimellitic Anhydride Price in 2025?

Trimellitic anhydride experienced one of the sharpest price collapses among chemical intermediates in 2025. The Northeast Asian benchmark fell from USD 4.886/KG at the start of the year to USD 1.810/KG by Q4, a 62.9% decline that reflected a fundamental disconnect between production capacity and downstream consumption demand.

Trimellitic Anhydride Prices in Northeast Asia in 2025

The Northeast Asian TMA price opened 2025 at USD 4.886/KG, reflecting residual demand from late 2024 procurement linked to infrastructure project activity. The Q2 price fell 16.7% to USD 4.070/KG as the market began pricing in the available surplus capacity. By Q3, the decline accelerated dramatically, with the price falling 45.2% to USD 2.229/KG. This was the single largest quarterly price move in the tracking period and marked a decisive break in market sentiment. Buyers who had maintained modest inventory positions moved to reduce stocks as the downtrend became entrenched. Q4 added a further 18.8% decline to USD 1.810/KG, with year-end producer selling and buyer restraint compounding the oversupply dynamic.

Three structural factors defined TMA price performance in 2025. First, Chinese capacity additions from the prior expansion cycle continued to deliver new supply into a market that was already long. Second, demand growth from the wire and cable sector, the primary TMA end-use, slowed as power infrastructure investment cycles in key markets moderated. Third, the cost of orthoxylene feedstock declined alongside broader aromatics and crude oil price trends, reducing TMA production costs and widening the floor below which distressed producers could still sell profitably. The confluence of supply excess, demand weakness, and lower production costs produced the sustained and severe price decline.

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Expert Market Research provides quarterly and real-time price intelligence for trimellitic anhydride and the broader benzene tricarboxylic acid intermediate market. Our analysis supports procurement teams, wire and cable manufacturers, plasticizer producers, and coatings companies in benchmarking contract prices, monitoring Chinese production capacity trends, and planning purchasing strategies in a structurally oversupplied market.

Expert Market Research provides quarterly and real-time VMP price intelligence for trimellitic anhydride and the broader benzene tricarboxylic acid intermediate market. Our analysis supports procurement teams, wire and cable manufacturers, plasticizer producers, and coatings companies in benchmarking contract prices, monitoring Chinese production capacity trends, and planning purchasing strategies in a structurally oversupplied market. Contact Expert Market Research today for TMA pricing data, custom market reports, and procurement advisory.