- Paraxylene cargo from USA is headed towards India instead of China.
- The new import tariff plan in China has caused this shift.
- The 10,000 mt cargo will be headed to India’s Materials Chemicals and Performance Intermediaries.
- They have 2 plants with 470,000 mt of PTA a year and 800,000 mt/year capacity, respectively.
A 10,000 mt paraxylene cargo is headed to India’s Materials Chemicals and Performance Intermediaries, formerly MCC PTA India from USA in November, a buyer source reportedly told this to Platts on the sidelines of the 52nd EPCA meeting held in Vienna, this Tuesday.
The MCC PTA has 2 terephthalic acid plants in West Bengal, Haldia. Its No.1 plant can produce 470,000 mt of PTA a year, while its second plant has an 800,000 mt/year capacity.
How will it be done?
The source said the paraxylene from the US, which is loaded on a larger vessel that cannot berth at the smaller East Coast India port, will first transship in South Korea where is some demand for PX, before loading 10,000 mt onto a smaller vessel to India.
Reason for heading to India
Going forward, however, the US to India route will still be an opportunistic one for paraxylene in the near term given the logistical challenges.
Market sources in Asia’s paraxylene market have recently said that US-origin paraxylene cargoes, which were previously headed to China and Northeast Asia, could likely be diverted to other Asian regions such as Southeast Asia following China’s imposition of import tariffs on US-origin PX on September 24. The current tariff level is 10%.
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Source: Platts
