What drove DMC prices to a 10-year high in 2021, and what does it signal for 2025?

What drove DMC prices to a 10-year high in 2021, and what does it signal for 2025?
DMC prices surged to a decade high of 37,700 yuan/ton in September 2021, more than doubling year-on-year, driven by tight supply from environmental restrictions on new capacity and reduced upstream industrial silicon output due to power curbs in Yunnan. Demand was buoyed by a global economic recovery, strong overseas orders, and expanding downstream applications. By late 2021, prices corrected to around 26,000 yuan/ton, then rebounded to 33,000 yuan/ton by March 2022. This volatility highlights DMC's sensitivity to feedstock constraints and macroeconomic cycles. With China's DMC capacity at roughly 1.69 million tons across 13 producers in 2020, and top players like Jiangxi Xinghuo and Xin'an Chemical running above 90% utilization, supply remains concentrated, giving producers strong pricing power in tight periods.