MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's June diesel exports rebounded from May and more than doubled from the same period last year, as refiners shipped out more surplus barrels amid record refinery production, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Diesel shipments last month reached 2.36 million tons, versus 1.68 million tons in May and 1.04 million tons in June 2020, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday.
Chinese refineries processed at record rates in June as plants returned from maintenance and due to the start-up of a new crude unit at private mega refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp in April.
Traders also rushed to bring in earlier booked cargoes of blending fuels - light cycle oil and mixed aromatic - before a new tax came into effect, adding to a domestic fuel surplus.
Jet kerosene exports also increased in June to 910,000 tons, the highest level since April 2020 and compared with 770,000 tons a year earlier. June gasoline exports were 1.45 million tons, down from 1.55 million tons in May but up 91% from June 2020.
For the first half of this year, diesel exports totalled 13.01 million tons, up 14.6% from the same period last year, while gasoline exports rose 21.3% to 9.56 million tons Sunday's data also showed China's June LNG imports were 6.72 million tonnes, easing from 7.03 million tons in May.
Imports in the first six months rose 27.8% on the year to 39.78 million tons, as companies extended strong purchases even after the peak-demand heating season ends in mid-March, helping push up Asian spot prices of the super-chilled fuel.
As MRC reported earlier, in April, 2021, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd (ZPC) started up its No. 2 cracker in Zhoushan, China, which is part of the company's phase 2 petrochemical project in the cournty. Thus, the cracker with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons/year of ethylene and 700,000 tons/year of propylene began trial runs last week.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC