2018 Apr China Methanol Import Analysis

According to SCI’s incomplete statistics, China imported about 608.8kt of methanol in April 2018, down 121.3kt or 16.61% from March 2018.

In terms of import origin, most of the resources still came from Iran New Zealand in April. The volume from Iran was largely stable at about 273.5kt, while the volume from New Zealand declined notably to about 84.4kt. Meanwhile, the resources from Trinidad supplemented the supply greatly with the volume of about 782.8kt, and the volume from Oman also rose to around 80kt. The volume from Saudi Arabia declined slightly, and there was basically no cargo from Malaysia and Venezuela this month.

In terms of arrival port, the import volume to East China shrank in April, while that to South China increased. Due to the intensive overhauls at foreign units, the merchantable resources were reduced in the market, but the supply for former contracts was basically stable. In East China, the import volume was about 173kt in Jiangsu and about 165.1kt in Zhejiang. The resources mainly flowed into downstream olefin plants. The import volume to Lianyungang area increased slightly, as some Iranian cargoes arrived in advance.

The foreign units are undergoing maintenance intensively in April. The 3,300kt/a unit at ZPC was shut down for maintenance around April 7 for about 50 days, and the other 1,650kt/a unit was also shut down temporarily for about one week. The 1,000kt/a unit at Fanavaran PC started the overhaul from April 20 for about 20 days. In addition, the units in New Zealand are also under maintenance in turn. At present, the global methanol supply is tight, and some resources may be delivered to the areas with high prices for arbitrage. Therefore, the import volume to China may decrease in May, and the imported cargoes may arrive intensively in H2 May.