Methanol's demand growth is among the highest among major base petrochemicals. This is because methanol's varied applications in substitution for refined products are economically competitive, and this trend seems set to continue Methanol is chemically extremely versa tile and capable of being turned to a wide variety of downstream uses. It is the most basic petrochemical that contains oxygen, and as a liquid at room temperature it is relatively easy to ship, store and distribute. At present almost all of its downstream uses experience at least GDP-level growth, and, because it is in the early stages of replacing many refined products, especially in China, it is often considerably above this level of growth. Table 1 shows demand growth in various downstream applications, some of which will be discussed in more detail later, both over the past five year period, along with some predictions for the next five years.
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