Domestic imports of pure benzene may remain high

According to statistics, in October 2022, China's pure benzene imports were 283,300 tons, the cumulative import volume was 2.5541 million tons, the import amount in the month was 268549133 US dollars, the average import price in the month was 948.05 US dollars / ton, the import volume decreased by -6.52% month-on-month, the import volume decreased by -8.29% year-on-year, and as of October 2022, the cumulative import volume of pure benzene in China increased by 8.85% compared with the same period last year.

From the perspective of trading partners, the main source country is South Korea, which imported 122,000 tons from South Korea in October 2022, accounting for 47.02% of the total imports in the month, and the average price of pure benzene imported from South Korea was around 969.82 US dollars / ton, and the import volume and total proportion from South Korea decreased from the previous month. Other importing countries are mainly Brunei, Thailand, Oman, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and other countries. The details of South Korea's exports in October are: From October 1 to 31, 2022, South Korea exported a total of 171062 tons of pure benzene, of which Chinese mainland144581 tons, 11,762 tons to Taiwan, 11,865 tons to the United States, and 2,854 tons to Japan.

In September 2022, Zhejiang Province, where China's import enterprises are located, accounted for the largest proportion, about 118,000 tons, accounting for 41.66%; The second place is Shanghai, about 45,900 tons, accounting for 16.21% of the total imports, and the third is Guangdong Province, about 45,500 tons, accounting for 16.06%.

In terms of exports, in September 2022, China exported 20 tons of pure benzene, and as of October, a total of 6221.501 tons of pure benzene was exported in 2022.

In the future, the Asia-America arbitrage window will continue to close, the downstream demand for benzene in Europe and other places continues to decrease, China has re-emerged as a global price highland, and the export target of the world's major benzene exporters points to China, so it is expected that domestic benzene imports in November may remain high.