South Korea's paraxylene exports in October slid 32.4% month on month to 144,387 mt, and edged down 9.3% year on year, the customs department said Thursday.
Its PX exports to China fell 33.3% month on month to 129,378 mt. Chinese buyers were increasingly reluctant to import feedstock PX amid negative margins for purified terephthalic acid production, market sources said.
According to Platts' data, the PTA margin averaged at minus $84.65/mt in October, compared with minus $77.31/mt in September. PX is a key feedstock for PTA, which is then processed to polyester.
Sources added that the start up of new PTA plants in China over November-December was not boosting PX demand due to the drop in PTA run rates at existing plants.
Zhejiang Yisheng Petrochemical will reduce the operating rate at three PTA plants at Ningbo, with a total capacity of 3.3 million mt/year, after starting up its new 1.8 million mt/year PTA plant at Hainan this month. The company also plans to lower the run rate of its 1.5 million mt/year PTA plant at Dalian, after it brings on stream its new 1.5 million mt/year PTA plant also at Dalian at the end of November.
Meanwhile, South Korea's PTA exports also dropped in October, falling 16.2% month on month to 260,374 mt. From a year earlier, the exports declined 18.2%. South Korea's PTA producers are currently running their plants below 100% of capacity due to the negative margins, resulting in a drop in the monthly export volume from the country.
