China's LPG imports rebounded in September to 1.77mn t, up by 6.5pc from the previous month as demand rose on the back of falling import costs. Saudi Arabia's state-owned Saudi Aramco's September propane Contract Price (CP) had been set at $350/t, down by $20/t from August.
January-September LPG imports into China totalled 15.3mn t, up by 7.3pc from the same period last year.
Around 888,000t or 50pc of the September imports went to the east China regions of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Shandong. Demand from these regions' propane dehydration (PDH) units remained firm on the back of profitable downstream yields. PDH operators bought propane cargoes on a cfr east China basis at September CP plus $47-55/t, while propylene prices on a cfr northeast Asia basis were at $920-942.50/t in September.
China imported 1.24mn t or 70pc of the September imports from the Mideast Gulf. Nearly 255,000t was imported from Asia-Pacific, while around 179,000t came from Africa.
China's LPG exports in September remained largely stable at nearly 124,000t. January-September exports totalled around 1mn t, up by 19pc from the same period in 2018.
The rise in both imports and exports brought net imports — imports minus exports — during January-September to 14.3mn t, up by 6.7pc from the 13.4mn t for the same period last year.
Source:Argus
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