Formaldehyde: Trading

No futures, no benchmark: priced off methanol by road tanker

What this tab covers How it is bought and sold: buyers and sellers, price benchmarks and who publishes them, exchanges, contract types, traders, how Indian buyers price it, recent price points, and good sources to follow.

Who buys, and where

Resin makers inside or next to panel mills
POM and MDI producers (captive)
Indian plywood and laminate clusters buying formalin by road tanker

Who sells, and from where

Local formalin producers within a few hundred km
Paraformaldehyde exporters in China and Europe for long distances

Price benchmarks

Benchmark	Publisher	Basis
Formaldehyde 37% regional prices	ChemAnalyst, Procurement Resource	monthly, FOB/CIF by country

Exchanges

Venue	Contract	Notes
None	no futures contract	priced as methanol plus conversion

Contract types

Monthly formula contracts indexed to methanol
Spot road-tanker sales

Traders and distributors

Not a traded commodity; resin makers buy direct

How Indian buyers price it

Producers quote ex-works in Rs/kg, reset with methanol: about Rs 25.90/kg (Jan 2026) and Rs 26.15/kg (Mar 2026) (Procurement Resource)
Methanol import parity plus 7.5% duty sets the cost floor

Recent price points

Date	Price	Basis	Source
Jul 2026	$187.43/t	FOB China	Procurement Resource (2026)
Jul 2026	$294.43/t	FOB India	Procurement Resource (2026)
Jul 2026	$374.92/t	CIF USA	Procurement Resource (2026)
Jan 2026	about Rs 25.90/kg	India	Procurement Resource (2026)

Good sources to follow

Procurement Resource price trendsfreemium research site · Procurement Resource

monthly formaldehyde prices by country

ChemAnalyst news and pricesfreemium research site · ChemAnalyst

methanol and derivative price commentary

Methanol Institutefree research site · industry association

methanol supply, demand and prices that drive formaldehyde

Crisil Intelligencefreemium research site · Crisil

India methanol and formaldehyde demand