In China, several new and expanded paraxylene (PX) facilities stated up in the last few years and supply increased. Production capacity of PX in the country reached 24 mil mt/year by 2020. The capacity is expected to increase to 43 mil mt/year by 2022. On the other hand, regarding derivative purified terephthalic acid (PTA), there are no plans to build new and expanded facilities and demand is weak. As a result, supply/demand for PX is seen to be slack.

Under this situation, old PX facilities are forced to be shut down. Further, demand for imported cargoes from Japan, Korea and Taiwan whose prices are not competitive is expected to decrease going forward. Meanwhile, import from regions where feedstock costs are low such as the Middle East and Mumbai in India will continue.