2017 Benzene Downstream Demand Structure Analysis

[Introduction] In 2017, the change in demand volume for benzene shows that styrene, caprolactam (CPL is for short) and phenol are the top 3 downstream products in China. With the expanding CPL capacity, the proportion of CPL in benzene consumption structure is assessed to rise by 2% to 16%.

SCI predicts that the overall downstream consumption volume of benzene which can be tracked is 13,880kt; 1,027.4kt benzene is oversupplied approximately; and the social benzene inventory is not included. The operating rate of styrene remains high in 2017. The operating rates of products, such as CPL, etc. decline due to the production restriction. Styrene takes up 39% of the total consumption volume of benzene, ranking first; the second largest downstream product is CPL which takes up 16% of the overall consumption volume; and phenol, the third largest downstream product of benzene, accounts for 13%.