Bitumen futures surged 1.92% to ¥5,304/t — the strongest daily gain among all listed commodity contracts, decisively outperforming fuel oil (-0.02%), natural rubber (+0.42%), and butadiene rubber (+1.15%). This divergence is not cost-driven: Brent rose 2.44% and WTI 0.89%, yet the bitumen-to-Brent spread widened to ~¥1,600/t (converted at USD/CNY 6.6558), confirming demand-side tightening. JODI data shows refinery throughput across China (13,247 kbpd), Japan (2,349 kbpd), Korea (2,977 kbpd), and India (5,569 kbpd) totals 24,142 kbpd — nearly 30% of global refining capacity. Yet product inventory structure reveals strain: Japan’s diesel stocks stand at 17,464 kbbl, Korea’s at 16,889 kbbl, and US at 79,896 kbbl — all elevated; while bitumen has no standalone inventory reporting, its production depends on vacuum residue yield, and current fuel oil stocks (Japan: 6,327 kbbl; Korea: 7,852 kbbl; US: 22,389 kbbl) sit at neutral-low levels. Coupled with refineries’ increasing preference to divert heavy fractions toward higher-margin products, actual bitumen output flexibility is constrained. Road construction exhibits sharp seasonality: northern China has entered final-phase work, while east/south regions approach the conventional shutdown window by mid-November. SNSUC’s import clients report slower bitumen vessel arrivals in East China during late October and delayed settlements at some end-user projects — social stock drawdown is decelerating at the margin. This is not demand collapse, but a physical contraction of the construction window — no new project starts are offsetting natural seasonal decay. For SNSUC importers, current procurement costs have breached psychological thresholds; delaying orders into early November creates a binary choice: pay premium for expedited shipments or risk supply gaps. We recommend phased price locks within ¥5,280–5,320/t to cover 30-day base demand. Reversal trigger: if bitumen futures fall below ¥5,200/t and open interest rises >8% over two consecutive sessions, it signals structural withdrawal from construction demand.