European aromatics market ends the year dancing with the bears

摘要

Activity was expected to be thin in the benzene market during the week of Dec. 17 as traders prepared for public holidays. High inventories and low prices were not enough to prevent an 8% year-on-year increase in benzene imports to 815K mt during Jan.-Oct, according to data from Eurostat. The Middle East and India were the major suppliers. Benzene exports from Europe, on the other hand, fell 38.5% during Jan.-Oct. to 82K mt. Europe exported no benzene in Oct. after having sent over 26K mt to the US in Oct. 2017. Last year, there were three months in which Europe exported no benzene to the US, but 2018 saw five months of zero exports to the US.