The China paraxylene (PX) market is firm. On the supply side, some PX facilities are scheduled to enter maintenance from April to June. In addition, several refineries will use mixed xylene (MX) as an additive of gasoline toward the demand season of gasoline. For these reasons, production of PX is decreasing. On the demand side, two new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) facilities are scheduled to start up in the fourth quarter and buying interest for PX might rise.

As for facilities, Zhejiang Petrochemical's 2.00 mil mt/year PX facility entered maintenance from the end of March for 40 days. Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company (ZRCC) also started maintenance of its 800,000mt/year PX facility from the first half of April. It is expected to take about two weeks for the facility to restart. Ningbo Zhongjin Petrochemical's 1.60 mil mt/year PX facility is shut down due to troubles. The facility was initially scheduled to enter maintenance in May but this might be moved forward.

As for derivative facilities, FPC Ningbo's 1.50 mil mt/year PTA facility started up on Apr 1. Meanwhile, Yizheng Chemical Fibre injected feedstock into its 3.00 mil mt/year PTA facility on Apr 2 and it started a trial run.