Mixed aromatics imports surge
The imports of other aromatics mixtures surged 147% to 842,200mt in the first half of this year due to the price advantage of mixed aromatics. In July, the CFR China price of Thailand-originated mixed aromatics was US$755/mt, equivalent to Yuan 6,200/mt after taxes, around Yuan 1,000/mt lower than the price of blended gasoline in domestic market. The obvious price gap between gasoline and imported aromatics made the blending cost of gasoline drop, since mixed aromatics accounts for 30% of the gasoline blendstocks.
A survey showed that the majority imports of other aromatics mixtures were mixed aromatics, and over 70% of imports of mixed aromatics were used in gasoline blending.
However, starting from June, maritime authorities in North China s Tianjin set stricter conditions for mixed aromatics (HS code: 27075000) import; and maritime authorities in East China s Nantong unified the name of heavy aromatics , pollution type and transportation technological standards and required to inspect over Certificate of Fitness for the Carriage and other certificates. Zhuhai maritime authorities required to enhance supervision over transportation of mixed aromatics products as from Aug 1.
After the domestic ports imposed stricter inspection over imports of mixed aromatics, some major importers felt that the shipping of the imports were not smooth. One mixed aromatics cargo imported by Itochu Corporation was once blocked at Tianjin port, other importers were also affected in Nantong, Guangzhou and Zhuhai.
The mixed aromatics usually takes up 20-30% of the gasoline blendstocks, some low sulfur and low benzene imports gained favor among gasoline blending traders and is more and more widely used. Maritime authorities started to impose stricter supervision on transportation and custom declaration of the mixed aromatics imports, our transportation cost will increase, as long as the imports are not restricted , said a major importer.
The stricter inspection over transportation of mixed aromatics may be attributable to three factors. The first is concern over environment protection. Current imports of mixed aromatics include toluol and xylene that are virulent materials. The second is to prevent importers shipping the mixed aromatics with oil tankers instead of chemical vessels to save transportation cost. The third factor is to press down gasoline blending for quality concern.
MTBE imports suddenly swells
China s MTBE imports started to increase from this April when the MTBE import arbitrage window opened, and reached pinnacle in June-July. The monthly MTBE imports in June-July was about 70,000-80,000mt, increasing almost seven times from the same period of last year. The large influx also reflected traders enthusiasm in gasoline blending.
The CFR China price of imported MTBE was US$770-780/mt recently, equivalent to Yuan 6,500-6,600/mt, much lower than the currently prevailing deal price of Yuan 6,900-7,100/mt in domestic market. The 80,000mt of MTBE import in August is almost the total marketable MTBE of Chinese refineries. Although a large mount of imports flew in, the stock level of MTBE is not high presently in domestic market.
In China, MTBE is usually produced in Shandong, North China and Northeast China and supplied to the southern market. However, the MTBE imports in East and South China have obvious price advantage, some traders in the north even sought for MTBE resources in the southern region. A Shandong-based trader said it was seeking MTBE resources in East or South China to ship to Tianjin. Traders in Beijing and Tianjin also showed the intention.
Blended gasoline impacts market
The blended gasoline impacted domestic gasoline market by virtue of its price advantage. Take recent East China market for instance, the wholesale price of blended 93-Ron gasoline was Yuan 7,100-7,200/mt, versus Yuan 7,550-7,700/mt posted by oil majors. The better price of blended gasoline not only attracted wholesale end users but also petrol stations. Some independent petrol stations tended to purchase blended gasoline to make more profit.
The gasoline blending cost was Yuan 6,747/mt in East China market recently, while the wholesale price of blended gasoline was Yuan 7,100-7,200/mt, leaving a margin of Yuan 353-453/mt. Since 2009, China s gasoline blending margin has always been staying at a positive territory, with the highest margin at Yuan 841.5/mt. Driven by the lucrative blending margin, blended gasoline prevails across the country.
A sales person with Sinopec said that their gasoline sales couldn t compete against the blended gasoline presently.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html
