China’s April Aromatics Trade Balance Diverges on Turnarounds, Geopolitical Tensions
China’s aromatics trade balance fluctuated sharply in April, as regional turnarounds and geopolitical tensions triggered conflicting market trends.
The most dramatic shift occurred in mixed xylene imports, which plummeted 73.3% month on month to just 9,540 metric tons. This sharp decline was triggered by the Middle East conflict, which disrupted feedstock supply chains, depressing refinery and cracker operating rates across Asia.
Regional maintenance turnarounds in April further constrained supply. In South Korea, SK Geo Centric took its 330,000 mt/year Ulsan MX plant offline, while Ulsan Aromatics halted operations at its 944,000 mt/year facility. Additionally, S-Oil shut down its reformate aromatics unit, Hyundai Oilbank entered a prolonged turnaround at its Daesan refinery and Formosa Chemicals cut operating rates to conduct maintenance at its reformer and aromatics units.
Chinese demand softened throughout April as gasoline blending weakened and heavy maintenance capped paraxylene or PX consumption. Moreover, domestic producers faced feedstock shortages that led to reduced throughput across the polyester value chain, ultimately depressing import demand for MX.
Regional producers continued to prioritize gasoline blending to maximize fuel production. This diversion of reformate to the fuel pool left less feedstock available for aromatics extraction. However, because Chinese purified terephthalic acid or PTA plant operating rates fell by roughly 7% in April from their March peak, the corresponding drop in PX supply did not cause a downstream shortfall. With demand declining proportionally, China’s April PX imports tumbled 33.3% month on month to 694,250 mt.
Benzene supply was curtailed in April as most toluene disproportionation units, transalkylation units, and crackers operated at reduced rates due to crude oil shortages stemming from the Middle East conflict. Moreover, elevated benzene and olefin prices further compressed margins across most downstream derivatives, with styrene margins suffering a particularly steep decline.
Higher inventory levels also dampened import demand. According to Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS data, benzene shore-tank inventories in east China stood at about 249,000 mt by the end of April, lower than the 290,000 mt at the end of March and higher than the average inventory level of approximately 163,000 mt in 2025. Consequently, domestic benzene demand trended downward throughout April. While Chinese imports proved slightly more resilient, they still slipped 3.9% month on month to 440,645 mt.
On the export front, styrene monomer emerged as a major outlier, skyrocketing 131.3% month on month to 195,383 mt. This surge points to aggressive overseas spot selling paired with robust regional demand.
Conversely, other key exports failed to match this momentum. Chinese April toluene exports dropped 27.8% month on month to 83,634 mt. Domestic refinery operating rates declined amid elevated crude costs, weak domestic demand and negative refining margins, which severely tightened toluene supply. Compounding the squeeze, producers continued to prioritize gasoline blending to maximize fuel production.
Ongoing maintenance in China further curtailed toluene supply, limiting export availability. Key turnarounds included Sinopec Jinling’s 318,000 mt/year plant and Cnooc Taizhou Petrochemical’s 261,000 mt/year unit, both located in Jiangsu. Additionally, PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical also took its 110,000 mt/year plant in Jilin offline in April.
Meanwhile, exports of PTA—the primary downstream product of PX—softened 6.6% month on month to 290,891 mt in April. According to CMA, this decline was driven by feedstock constraints that forced domestic PTA production down 7% to 6.23 million mt.
—Reporting by Serena Seng, sseng@opisnet.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com