May 22 News: For the week of May 21, the operating rate of soda ash plants stood at 76.72%, down 3.92% week-on-week, while soda ash output totaled 727,200 tonnes, a decrease of 4.84% from the previous week. Chempricehub assesses soda ash with a bullish/bearish rating of 1. On the spot market front, the operating rate of soda ash plants fell 3.92 percentage points week-on-week to 76.72% during the week of May 21, with output dropping 4.84% to 727,200 tonnes. The supply side saw a notable contraction, providing strong support for spot prices. On the futures market front, the main contract for soda ash (contract 2609) on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) closed at 1,182 yuan/tonne on May 21, 2026, up 7 yuan/tonne from the previous trading day. The supply contraction provided a positive driver for the futures price to trend higher.