Two new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants have become operational in China, which has led to a rise in demand and consequently an increase in imports of paraxylene (PX) in September 2012.
A new plant with capacity to produce 1.5 million tons of PTA per year was made operational in Zhejiang province by Jiaxing Petrochemical in August-end.
This was followed by the start of 2.2 million tons per year PTA plant in Dalian by Hengli Petrochemical last month.
This has resulted in an increase in demand for PX, a key raw material for PTA.
Accordingly, China’s PX imports swelled 13.25 percent year-on-year to 591,202 tons in September, as per the customs data.
On a month-on-month basis, September PX imports rose by 26.57 percent.
Experts estimate that China’s PX imports would rise further as more and more new PTA plants would become operational in future.
Zhejiang Yisheng Petrochemical is planning to start its new PTA plant, having a capacity of 1.8 million tons per year, in Hainan by November-end this year.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=117542
