MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea’s petrochemical exports to China declined further in 2015 on China’s increased self-sufficiency rates for petrochemical products, said TPS with reference to a report released by the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea EXIM Bank).
According to the EXIM Bank, South Korea’s petrochemical exports to China were estimated to be at USD14.42 billion from January to October 2015.
China remained as the largest recipient of petrochemical products from South Korea, accounting for 45.10% of total petrochemical exports from South Korea.
However, this is a slight decrease from 2014 when petrochemical exports to China accounted for 45.70%.
Indeed, South Korea’s petrochemical exports to China have been on the continuous decline since 2010 when it accounted for nearly 48% of total exports.
In recent years, China’s petrochemical production capacity has increased significantly in tandem with the Chinese government’s efforts to boost self-sufficiency rates for its burgeoning petrochemical sector.
Consequently, it is estimated that China’s self-sufficiency rates for petrochemical products, mainly synthetic resins, synthetic fibre and synthetic rubber materials had reached nearly 80% in 2014, a sharp increase of 14.20% from 2010.
In particular, self-sufficiency rates for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are estimated to have reached 103% and 106% respectively in 2015.
This has translated into the plunge in South Korea’s PTA exports to China which declined by 88% on year.
Other products that have registered a sharp fall in exports to China in 2015 were benzene derivatives such as caprolactam and phenol which plunged by 65% and 64% on year respectively.
Looking ahead, the EXIM Bank forecasted that South Korea’s petrochemical exports to China will continue decline as further capacity expansions for coal-based plants are expected in China for the next five years.
In addition, weakened demand for petrochemical products due to the slowdown of the Chinese economy and increased competition from the Middle East producers will also reduce South Korea’s petrochemical exports to China.
We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, in August 2015, The Ministry of Commerce, Government of China announced it would review anti-dumping duties on PTA imported from South Korea and . Anti-dumping duties ranging between 2 and 20.1% were imposed on PTA imports from these two countries in August 2010, for a period of five years. The ministry's decision to review these duties follows an application made by domestic producers in June 2015 requesting the ministry to reinvestigate the case and extend the duties which are due to expire.
MRC