Maleic anhydride: April export suffered “waist cut”

 

Introduction

The impact of overseas public health incidents has increased. In April, domestic exports of Maleic Anhydride fell by 55.5% from the previous month. The rapid growth momentum in recent years was stopped suddenly.

Since the mid-to-late March, public health accidents had intensified in major importers of domestic Maleic Anhydride like India and Turkey. With the enhancement of government control, the normal life and economy of the above-mentioned countries began to be severely restricted, resulting in the sharp decline of foreign trade demand. Affected by this, domestic export of Maleic Anhydride was blocked and the April export volume shows a “waist cut”. The sustained growth momentum since 2018 was shopped for the first time.

According to customs statistics, domestic exports of Maleic anhydride in April were 4,180.77 tons, a 55.5% month-on-month decline, and a 64.1% year-on-year decrease; the export value was US $ 3,187,500, and the average export price was US $ 762.42 / ton, a 13.54% month-on-month decline; Cumulative export volume from January to April was 30054.49 tons, an increase of 1.21% year-on-year.

Regarding to the flow of goods, domestic maleic anhydride was mainly exported to 27 countries and regions in April. Among them, Turkey ranked first with 1110 tons of export volume, a market share of 27%; Indonesia ranked second with 644 tons of export volume, a market share of 15%; Brazil ranked third with 470 tons of export volume, a market share of 11 %. The rest are Russia, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. India, which used to occupy half of the export volume in the past, fell to 67 tons due to its own “closing country” policy, and its market share was only 1.6%.

 

From the point of view of domestic sources, domestic export of maleic anhydride decreased to 8 in April. Among them, Henan Province replaced Shandong Province with 1710 tons of exports to become the main domestic source of maleic anhydride, with an export share of 41%; Shandong Province ranked second for the first time, with 1547 tons of exports accounting for 37% of the export share; Jiangsu Province with 484 tons export volume ranks third, with the export share of 12%. Zhejiang, Liaoning, Guangdong, Hebei and other places ranked behind in order.

It is said that due to the fact that public health incidents in India and other countries have not been effectively controlled, the external demand for maleic anhydride did not show any signs of improvement in May, and the export prices of maleic anhydride continued to slump.