Corrected: China raw material imports up, polymers fall in Feb

26 March 2008 09:35  [Source: ICIS news]

Correction: In the ICIS news story headlined "China raw material imports up, polymers fall in Feb" dated 26 March, 2008, statistics for 2006 and 2007 have been changed. A corrected story follows.

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--China petrochemical raw material imports surged in February, but polymer imports fell as consumption slowed during the Chinese New Year, statistics from China Customs showed on Wednesday.

Ethylene and butadiene (BD) imports more than doubled in February to 46,938 tonnes and 18,566 tonnes respectively compared with the same period a year ago.

Imports of polymers fell by up to 33% as the festive season and extremely harsh weather conditions dampened demand in February.

During the same period, naphtha exports nearly tripled to 309,030 tonnes.

Product	Period	Import (tonnes)	Export (tonnes)
Naphtha	Feb 2008	(-100%)	309030 (167%)
	Feb 2007	121364	115814
	2007	1068131	1738920
	2006	639178	1573068
Olefins
Product	Period	Import (tonnes)	Export (tonnes)
Ethylene	Feb 2008	46938 (242%)	(-100%)
	Feb 2007	13707	7608
	2007	509821	49656
	2006	117366	128725
Propylene	Feb 2008	36886 (-7%)	0(NA)
	Feb 2007	39458	0
	2007	727804	86
	2006	321158	1538
Butadiene	Feb 2008	18566 (132%)	1156 (21%)
	Feb 2007	8010	956
	2007	111186	24708
	2006	89159	26941
Polymers
Product	Period	Import (tonnes)	Export (tonnes)
HDPE	Feb 2008	140454 (-12%)	1219 (-30%)
	Feb 2007	158747	1743
	2007	2091227	37946
	2006	2419487	20007
LDPE	Feb 2008	41216 (-28%)	1105 (-11%)
	Feb 2007	57252	1238
	2007	772597	15575
	2006	931791	14772
LLDPE	Feb 2008	86877 (-33%)	342 (613%)
	Feb 2007	130382	48
	2007	1670555	6856
	2006	1540592	4846
PP	Feb 2008	160196 (-26%)	2275 (-86%)
	Feb 2007	216650	16622
	2007	3070064	31128
	2006	2944674	26237
PVC	Feb 2008	79478 (-16%)	73992 (11%)
	Feb 2007	94620	66878
	2007	1303878	752978
	2006	1452150	499377
PS	Feb 2008	74888 (-11%)	17834 (-29%)
	Feb 2007	83827	25047
	2007	1323681	308008
	2006	1319142	188376
ABS	Feb 2008	132563 (2%)	2590 (14%)
	Feb 2007	130590	2269
	2007	2172748	32357
	2006	2014742	19577
PC	Feb 2008	71655 (18%)	20154 (43%)
	Feb 2007	60610	14081
	2007	1020757	306129
	2006	899271	185437
Aromatics
Product	Period	Import (tonnes)	Export (tonnes)
Benzene	Feb 2008	25662 (22%)	1501 (-78%)
	Feb 2007	21110	6961
	2007	248736	56129
	2006	297654	189851
Toluene	Feb 2008	20115 (-47%)	28 (-69%)
	Feb 2007	37690	90
	2007	444638	2108
	2006	567137	2627
MX	Feb 2008	59 (111%)	(-100%)
	Feb 2007	28	1
	2007	6868	93
	2006	10287	91
PX	Feb 2008	330297 (56%)	36178 (256%)
	Feb 2007	212348	10172
	2007	2903062	251970
	2006	1840172	97796
Intermediates
Product	Period	Import (tonnes)	Export (tonnes)
SM	Feb 2008	251326 (29%)	3 (-50%)
	Feb 2007	195224	6
	2007	3101454	164
	2006	2343044	5917
PTA	Feb 2008	251326 (-49%)	0 (NA)
	Feb 2007	492920	5
	2007	5992544	47
	2006	7004327	6
MEG	Feb 2008	358826 (4%)	87 (-46%)
	Feb 2007	345652	162
	2007	4801753	2088
	2006	4061283	911
ACN	Feb 2008	16196 (-50%)	1992 (NA)
	Feb 2007	32496	0
	2007	435542	1996
	2006	324477	51941
Caprolactam	Feb 2008	40261 (-2%)	0 (NA)
	Feb 2007	41126	0
	2007	472480	28
	2006	444561	34
Phenol	Feb 2008	26252 (-32%)	63 (3050%)
	Feb 2007	38478	2
	2007	456902	375
	2006	284622	388
Others
Product	Period	Import (tonnes)	Export (tonnes)
Methanol	Feb 2008	19897 (3%)	86461 (-16%)
	Feb 2007	19411	103471
	2007	845045	562685
	2006	1127297	190033
Acetone	Feb 2008	35530 (1%)	10 (-55%)
	Feb 2007	35057	22
	2007	481759	652
	2006	395945	508
BPA	Feb 2008	41559 (46%)	13 (160%)
	Feb 2007	28426	5
	2007	460523	2122
	2006	359552	3599
IPA	Feb 2008	4745 (-46%)	66 (-19%)
	Feb 2007	8714	81
	2007	109828	1321
	2006	95773	1177
MEK	Feb 2008	5034 (-55%)	2781 (173%)
	Feb 2007	11272	1019
	2007	87607	18934
	2006	94478	28061
Base oil	Feb 2008	95024 (6%)	13306 (-20%)
	Feb 2007	89251	16611
	2007	46732	58
	2006	44860	101
Ethanol	Feb 2008	36 (1100%)	2526 (-66%)
	Feb 2007	3	7436
	2007	154	110717
	2006	5930	970721

Source: China Customs
By: Florence Tan
+65 6780 4359

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