IndexBox has just published a new report: ‘China – Phenols – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights’. Here is a summary of the report’s key findings.

In 2020, China boosted its phenol imports by +20% y-o-y to 1.5M tonnes. In value terms, they exceeded $1.7B. South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand constitute the key phenol suppliers to China, with a combined 58%-share of the total imports. Taiwan, the U.S., Thailand and Japan expanded their exports to China, while shipments from South Korea dropped in 2020.

Chinese Phenol Imports

In 2020, approx. 1.5M tonnes of phenols were imported into China; growing by +20% against the year before. In value terms, phenols imports grew by +3.5% y-o-y to $1.7B (IndexBox estimates) in 2020.

South Korea (302K tonnes), Taiwan (302K tonnes) and Thailand (249K tonnes) were the main suppliers of phenols imports to China, together comprising 58% of total imports.

Taiwan (+95% y-o-y), the U.S. (+82% y-o-y), Thailand (+32% y-o-y) and Japan (+10% y-o-y) saw the highest increases in export volume to China in 2020. By contrast, purchases from South Korea reduced by -15% y-o-y.

In value terms, the largest phenols suppliers to China were South Korea ($319M), Taiwan (Chinese) ($294M) and Thailand ($237M), together accounting for 49% of total imports.

In 2020, the average phenols import price amounted to $1,183 per tonne, waning by -13.8% against the previous year. Prices varied noticeably by the country of origin; the country with the highest price was the U.S. ($1,891 per tonne), while the price for Saudi Arabia ($712 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. In 2020, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Japan, while the prices for the other major suppliers experienced a decline.

Source: IndexBox Platform