China Naphtha Import Volume Inched down in March 2018

According to China Customs, China imported 622.6kt of naphtha in March 2018, down 11.44% M-O-M but up 11.69% Y-O-Y. Besides, the average import price of naphtha was about $586.84/mt.

SCI learnt that CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals imported 160.6kt of naphtha resources via Shenzhen Customs, and Dalian Fujia Petrochemical imported 147.7kt of naphtha resources via Dalian Customs. Moreover, Qingdao Lidong Chemical imported 123.6kt of naphtha resources via Qingdao Customs, and Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical imported 94.8kt of naphtha resource via Shanghai Customs. Besides, Wanxiang Petroleum Logistics (Zhoushan) imported 60.9kt of naphtha resources via Hangzhou Customs and the trade mode of inbound and outbound goods in bonded warehouses.

In April, the crude oil processing volume at refineries of PetroChina and Sinopec declined, and China’s naphtha supply dropped accordingly. As for the demand of naphtha, some reforming units at Shandong independent refineries were restarted, thus the straight-run gasoline supply decreased to some extent. Meanwhile, as the domestic naphtha supply was short, the export volume remained low. On the whole, SCI reckons that China’s naphtha import volume will obviously increase in April 2018.