China's Petrochemical Imports Down in April on Weak Demand

China's petrochemical import volumes largely declined in April because of weak domestic demand, industry sources said on Wednesday. The world's second-largest economy imported 15,142 tonnes of butadiene (BD) in April. The figure is a 19% year-on-year drop, but a 24% increase month on month, according to data from China Customs.

"BD prices in the domestic market have declined in March this year and many market players are optimistic about the near-term price outlook, so that led to an increase in April's trade volumes compared with March," a BD domestic market player said.

China's naphtha imports rose by 1% year on year to 131,873 tonnes in April, but the figure was down by more than 50% month on month, the data showed.

The country's polyvinyl chloride (PVC) imports dropped by 11% year on year to 93,682 tonnes and its expandable polystyrene (EPS) imports declined by 19% year on year to 5,277 tonnes in April, according to the data.

"The decline in PVC imports was because of weak downstream demand in the domestic market as well as the downtrend in the product's spot prices," said a PVC market participant, adding that the offtake rate of PVC imports in April was limited.

Other petrochemical imports that declined year on year in April include linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), styrene monomer (SM), acrylonitrile (ACN) and phenol.