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Paraxylene starts to dominate the polyester chain

Chemical companies
By Paul Hodges on 08-Feb-2012

C8 Feb12.pngLast April, China’s polyester market provided an early warning signal that the current downturn was about to start. Now, it is flagging an important change in relative positions within the value chain.

9 months ago, the divergence between crude oil prices and those for the C8 chain highlighted slowing end-user demand. The chart above updates the picture since then:

• Brent (purple line) is ~150% above its January 2009 level
• PTA (red) peaked at ~130%, but is now only ~75% above this level
• PET (blue) peaked at ~110%, but is also now ~75% above this level
• PX (green) has been relatively stronger, and is 100% above this level

This, of course, is very bad news for those who have invested in PTA and PET. They are suffering value leakage in relation to paraxylene (PX) prices, rather than adding value.

The reasons are probably three-fold:

• Slow end-user demand means products close to the oil barrel have greater pricing power than those downstream
• Lower Western refinery operating rates are reducing mixed xylene production, and increasing the differential necessary to justify extraction
• A massive jump in Asian PTA capacity (primarily in China) is not being accompanied by a similar increase in PX supply

The jump in Asian capacity repeats the pattern seen in the early 2000s, when China first boosted PTA production. Fellow-blogger Malini Hariharan noted last month that nearly 11.5MT of new capacity is expected in Asia this year, whilst only 1.4MT of new PX supply is scheduled.

Major shortages, and considerable market disruption, could therefore occur if the new plants all bid for the same few available feedstock parcels. This wouldn’t happen in the West, where issues of profitability would take priority. Producers would instead optimise margins by selling PX and covering their PTA commitments by purchases.

But China’s philosophy is not so profit-oriented. Instead, due to the often close linkages between companies and government, the need to maximise employment can have priority. This is especially true in a year when major politburo elections are underway, and the need for social stability is strong.