London — The EU's exports of paraxylene rose 35% to 25,051 mt in March from 18,512 mt in February, on refinery turnarounds in the US, the latest Eurostat data showed. The turnarounds led to tighter feedstock mixed xylenes supplies in the US.
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Register NowMarch exports were almost entirely headed to the US, with volumes totalling 25,046 mt, more than double the 12,450 mt shipped in February. The US remained Europe's largest PX customer throughout Q1, with January exports reported at 47,532 mt.
But the EU's PX exports in the first quarter fell 32% to 102,862 mt from 151,874 mt in the first three months of 2017.
But no PX shipments from the EU to Turkey were reported in March, compared to 6,041 mt in February and 11,938 mt in January.
Similarly, no PX outflows to Mexico were reported in Q1. This was a substantial change from the same period the previous year when 64,676 mt of PX arrived from Europe.
Meanwhile, EU's PX imports dipped 14% in March to 12,778 mt from 14,809 mt in February. But PX inflows into Europe in Q1 dipped just 1% to 43,073 mt from 43,577 mt in the same 2017 period.
Russian was the lead PX exporter to Europe in Q1, with 32,837 mt. It was also the EU's sole external supplier in March.
Israel took second place, with EU's Q1 imports from there totalling 10,234 mt, with no volumes recorded in March.
--Sam Hashmi, sam.hashmi@spglobal.com
--Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy.lovell@spglobal.com