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Aromatics – changes are coming
The rising demand for aromatics is providing many growth opportunities for businesses around the world.
1 minute read
While demand is high, supply sources are shifting rapidly: large investments are poised to upset balances in some commodities, while trade protectionism will shake-up value chains in others. In the below videos our expert analysts discuss the challenges and opportunities we expect to see in the aromatics industry for the rest of this year and beyond, answering questions such as:
- What impact has the increase in oil price had on paraxylene (PX) manufacturers?
- How have Chinese styrene anti-dumping duties impacted global trade flows?
- Where do we see upcoming investments in the aromatics industry?
Watch the below videos to learn more.
Upcoming investments in the aromatics industry
Two key drivers are leading the investment in aromatics. Firstly, downstream polymer companies are moving upstream into their feedstock aromatics; and secondly, upstream refiners are moving downstream to diversify away from gasoline.
Ryan Macaluso discusses these two investment options, the challenges investors will face and what this means for the industry.
Paraxylene: The increase in oil price and new Chinese assets
The sharp increase in oil price at the start of 2018 has had a knock-on effect on margins for paraxylene producers. The impact on European producers in particular has been compounded by the reduction in value of the Euro vs the US dollar. We will start to see margins improve this year but with two new game-changing assets coming online in China in 2020, this presents another challenge for the paraxylene industry.
In this video, we explore these issues and how our analysis helps customers understand global paraxylene markets, and position themselves to ride through this tough period.
Benzene: Where will future supply come from?
The demand for benzene, and by extension the derivatives that it goes into, is relatively mature. Even so, future supply growth is at risk: sources of supply have historically come from production of benzene as a co-product or a by-product.
Ryan discusses the anticipated growth, or lack thereof, from these sources and where we can expect to get benzene from in the future.
Styrene: Chinese ADD impact global trade flow
The main development we've seen in global styrene markets recently is around Styrene Chinese Anti-Dumping Duties and the impact these have had on global trade flows.
In this video, Truong Mellor discusses this issue and what we expect to see in the industry from the early 2020s when new world-scale Chinese styrene assets start coming online.
Learn more about our Aromatics services and how your business can benefit from an integrated view on market trends, prices and expert analysis into Benzene, Styrene and Paraxylene.