According to the GACC, Chinese benzene import volume was 264,290.61 tonnes in April, dropped by 14.47% from last month. It was also lower than the average import volume over January-March, mainly because of a decline in benzene imports from South Korea.
Source: GACC
In detail, the cumulative imports were 1,197,034.70 tonnes over past four months in 2024, with a year-on-year rise of 6.34%. Meanwhile, the average import price was settled at $1,074.49/tonne in April, with total amount of money of around 283.98 million US dollars. Moreover, Chinese benzene export volume was zero in April.
In the light of statistics from the GACC, the benzene resources imported from South Korea were 69,000 tonnes in April, accounting for 26.10% in total import volume. It sharply dropped by 135,100 tonnes or 66.19% from 204,100 tonnes of March imports, and dwindled by 41,100 tonnes or 37.33% compared with 110,100 tonnes of April 2023.
Source: GACC, OilChem
As for imports in May and June, China's expected benzene import volume may be about 280,000-300,000 tonnes, higher than that in April 2024 as well as in May-June of last year, as the demand from the United States may be more sluggish than previously. While in the meantime, rigid demand for benzene resources will be high in China, so the larger import profits caused by higher prices in foreign markets may weigh on import volume to some extent.
Written by Cynthia Xin, xinyue@oilchem.net
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com
