China’s petroleum chemical trade deficit to expand - NPCPI analyst

25 May 2010 06:51  [Source: ICIS news]

NINGBO, China (ICIS news)--China’s petroleum and petrochemical trade deficit is expected to expand in the coming years due to unfavourable global economic conditions and its rising demand for oil products, an analyst said on Tuesday.

“The trade deficit in these sectors was smaller last year, but we expect it to expand further in future,” said Bai Xuesong of the China National Petroleum and Chemical Planning Institute (NPCPI), a state-owned agency that provides petroleum and chemical consulting services.

Bai was speaking at the Sino-Iran Seminar on Petrochemical Industry Investment and Trade, a one-day event held in Ningbo, Zhejiang province in eastern China.

China registered a $129.06bn (€105bn) deficit in petroleum and petrochemical trade last year, 21.1% lower from the previous year, and it was the first time the deficit shrank, he said.

China imported $228.06bn worth of petroleum and petrochemical products last year, and exported $99.01bn worth of the same during the period, which were 22.6% and 24.6% lower year-on-year respectively, he said.

China imported 218.38m tonnes of oil products last year, 8.8% higher from the previous year.

Bai said China’s petrochemical trade was not balanced as the country imported mostly high valued added products such as synthetic resins, and exported mainly low value material such as synthetic rubbers.

Rapid economic development would continue to drive growth in China’s petrochemical sector in the years ahead, but local industries such as methanol, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) caustic soda were facing shrinking profits caused by overcapacity and competition from low-cost imports, he added.

Co-organised by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF), the Ningbo municipal government, and the Oil Products Export Development Fund of Iran (OPEX Fund), the Sino-Iran seminar provides a platform for state-owned and private companies from China and Iran to explore collaborative opportunities in petrochemicals.

CPCIF, formerly known as the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA), develops national programmes for the industry. Members of the federation include most of the country's petroleum and chemical majors, such as China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Sinochem.

The Iranian delegation is led by the Oil Products Export Development Fund of Iran (OPEX Fund), a consortium company consisting of 170 Iranian private oil products producing and trading companies.

China’s major petrochemicals (10,000 tonnes/year)

	Output (2009)	World ranking
Processed oil	37,460	2
Refined oil	23,545	2
Ethylene	1,070	2
PTA	1,170	1
Synthetic rubber	254	3
Synthetic resins	3,222	2
Caustic soda	1,891	1
Soda ash	1,906	1
Methanol	1,133	1
Urea	2,932	1
Ammonia	5,136	1
Nitrogen fertiliser (nutrient tons)	4,864	1
Acetic acid	240	2

Source: NPCPI

($1 = €0.81)

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