2018 Jan-Oct China Butane Market Analysis

With the approach of the end of 2018, SCI will make market participants comprehend China’s butane market via analyzing its prices, output, import volume, apparent consumption volume, etc.

As seen from the chart, the highest prices of n-butane, iso-butane and crude butane appeared in September 2018, which reached RMB 5,581/mt, RMB 6,172/mt and RMB 5,627/mt respectively. Moreover, the lowest prices of the above three products were RMB 3,653/mt, RMB 4,333/mt and RMB 3,729/mt respectively. Besides, China’s n-butane, iso-butane and crude butane average price reached RMB 4,570/mt, RMB 5,242/mt and RMB 4,602/mt respectively in the first ten months of 2018.

As for China’s butane output, the monthly output of n-butane, iso-butane and crude butane was largely stable, which meant the operating rates at refineries were relatively stable. According to SCI’s statistics, the monthly average output of n-butane, iso-butane and crude butane was 60.8kt, 117kt and 16.9kt respectively in the first ten months of 2018.

As seen from the above chart, China imported 604kt of butane in August, which reached the annual peak level, and July witnessed the lowest import volume of 342.1kt. In terms of the export volume, China exported 76.4kt of butane in May, which reached the annual peak level, and July witnessed the lowest export volume of 47.9kt. Besides, China’s butane apparent consumption volume was largely stable in 2018. Therein, the highest monthly apparent consumption volume was 3,960kt, and the lowest monthly apparent consumption volume was 3,000kt. According to SCI’s statistics, the monthly average butane import volume, export volume and apparent consumption volume reached 461.2kt, 57kt and 3,500kt respectively.

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