Butadiene Market Analysis: Price Trend, Trade Data and Synthetic Rubber Demand

Data source: UN Comtrade public trade statistics (https://comtradeapi.un.org/public/v1/preview/C/M/HS?reporterCode=156,842,699,410,276,528,356,360,764,458,724,40,56,251,380,616,826,124,76,484,792,682,784,704,490,702,643,36,710,818,364,203,348,300,620,372,208,246,752,578,320,508&period=202607&cmdCode=290124&partnerCode=0&flowCode=X&includeDesc=true) | Last updated: 2026-10-30

Price Trajectory, latest 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07)

The monthly customs export unit value for HS 290124 moved from USD 823.88/ton in 2025-08 to USD 1,093.84/ton in 2026-07 (+32.8% across the window). The window high was USD 1,563.40/ton in 2026-04 and the low USD 651.49/ton in 2025-11. Three-month averages put the latest quarter +10.4% against the previous one, which is classified here as neutral. The heading-level series is volatile: the largest month-on-month move in the window was +50.5% between 2026-03 and 2026-04. In that pair reported value moved -18.9% while reported tonnage moved -46.1%, so the unit-value move reflects the mix of grades and the size of shipments filed under this heading rather than a single quoted price, and the three-month average is read as traded-mix movement rather than as a price signal.

The same panel reported USD 1,262.1 million of export value on 1,319,556 tonnes over the twelve months, an average of 109,963 tonnes a month. Values are customs returns for the stated HS heading, so they capture the traded mix of that heading rather than a single quoted grade.

The EU side of the same market gives a volume check rather than a price: Eurostat Comext records EU27 imports of HS 290124 from outside the EU at 176 tonnes in 2026-08 and 4,612 tonnes over the twelve months to 2026-08. Monthly consignments at that size are too small for a unit value to mean anything, so no EU import price is published here.

2026-08 is not used yet: 3 of the listed reporters had filed both value and net weight for this heading when this page was rebuilt, against the 7 that make up the locked panel used here, and 2026-09 had no filings at all. Mixing a partly-filed month into a fixed panel would move the unit value through composition alone, so the window is held at 2026-07 until the panel for 2026-08 is complete.

HS 290124 carries buta-1,3-diene and isoprene inside one heading, so this series also contains C5 diene trade and is not a butadiene-only quote; the isoprene page on this site covers that molecule separately.

Supply-side factors

• Fixed reporting panel of 7 economies: BRA (76), CAN (124), DEU (276), IDN (360), NLD (528), IND (699), USA (842). The panel is held constant in every month of the window so month-to-month movement is not a composition effect.
• Monthly unit value range over the window: USD 651.49 to USD 1,563.40/ton.
• Latest month, 2026-07: USD 1,093.84/ton, -15.8% against the previous month, on 123,125 tonnes.

Demand-side factors

• Butadiene demand runs through styrene-butadiene rubber, polybutadiene rubber, ABS and nitrile rubber, with smaller outlets in nylon intermediates and specialty chemicals. Supply is a by-product of ethylene cracking, so cracker feedslate and operating rates drive availability more than butadiene demand does.
• Related market pages on this site: Mixed C4, Isoprene and Styrene — Mixed C4 for the upstream C4 slate; Isoprene for the other diene inside the same heading; Styrene for the co-monomer in SBR and ABS.

Basis: these are customs unit values for the stated HS heading, not quoted spot, contract or assessed prices, and no paid price assessment is used or redistributed on this page. Every figure can be re-checked at the API links listed at the end of this page.

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