China’s ethanol imports fall 31% on year in December to 124,823 cu m
Source: By Daisy Tseng, Platts • Posted: Wednesday, January 25, 2017
China’s ethanol imports in December fell by around 31% year on year as the country awaited an import tariff to be implemented in January.
The country imported 124,823 cu m of ethanol last month, compared with 180,983 cu m in December 2015, according to data released by Chinese customs on Tuesday.
The volumes, however, were up from 71,310 cu m in November last year.
Denatured ethanol accounted for more than 99.9% of December’s imports, with the US, South Korea and South Africa being the top three suppliers.
Total ethanol imports for 2016 were at 890,140 cu m, up 29.6% from 686,907 cu m in 2015.
Separately, China exported 6,191 cu m of ethanol in December, including 6,188 cu m of undenatured material.
December’s exports were up 129% from 2,704 cu m recorded in November, and brought the country’s total exports in 2016 to 33,684 cu m.
Top buyers of China’s undenatured ethanol include the Philippines, North Korea and Japan.
–Daisy Tseng, daisy.tseng@spglobal.com
–Edited by Haripriya Banerjee, haripriya.banerjee@spglobal.com