In China, operation rates of methanol facilities are generally high but production volumes might decrease compared to June since some facilities were shut down due to troubles or for maintenance at the end of June. Meanwhile, several derivative facilities, including MTBE facilities, that were shut down are restarting and demand for methanol is rising.

In the international market, Iran, a major exporting country, is keen to export since inventories of methanol increased. As the military conflict between Iran and Israel broke out at the end of June, several methanol facilities in Iran were shut down. After that, those facilities restarted and supply also recovered. Under this situation, import volumes of methanol in China in July are expected to be about 1.20 mil mt, mostly unchanged from June.

On the demand side, buying interest from derivative makers was strong until June. But it is the low demand season in July and consumption of inventories is slow in some areas. The situation going forward is seen to be affected by exports from Iran, inventories at major ports in China and operations of methanol and derivative facilities.