BD Import Volume Picked Up Y-O-Y in H1, 2018

In H1, 2018, China imported 192kt of butadiene roughly, up around 20% Y-O-Y. The import volume was high in Q1 and trended down in Q2. Especially in June, the import volume was only around 5kt, down 81.32% Y-O-Y. The import volume was around 360kt in 2017, hitting a new high in recent years. However, with some newly added units going into production in 2018, the butadiene import volume will decline gradually.

In Q1, 2018, China imported 131.5kt of butadiene roughly, up 34.83% Y-O-Y. As China’s butadiene units were shut down for maintenance intensively in Q2, some downstream enterprises and traders stocked up ahead of time. The newly added units failed to release the capacity totally. Thus, the import volume picked up accordingly. In Q1, China mainly imported butadiene from Netherlands, South Korea, the U.S., Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Taiwan Province, Indonesia, etc. The butadiene resources imported from European and American countries accounted for a large proportion.

In Q2, 2018, China imported 60.4kt of butadiene roughly, down 3.18% Y-O-Y. Q2 saw intensive maintenance of China’s butadiene units. However, most downstream enterprises had stocked up ahead of time. Besides, the price of imported butadiene was higher than that of Chinese-made butadiene resources. In Q2, newly added butadiene units ran normally in succession, replenishing China’s butadiene market to some extent. Thus, the demand for imported butadiene resources lowered. The import volume moved down accordingly.

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