MEG production faces short term challenges to divert the cargoes to other locations, while in the middle-to-long term, changes in trade flows will be inevitable to cater to the new facilities coming on board in the US. The short-term impact, is likely to be limited for China given that US is not a major exporter of MEG to China but may present a missed opportunity and logistical issues for US producers.
Cargoes from the US to China tend to be seasonal, occurring in spurts in periods when local demand or import demand from Europe is unable to absorb production volume in the US.
US to China MEG imports rose 270% year-on-year, to 182,690 tonnes in 2017. This is about 7.9% of the total US nameplate capacity of MEG, according to ICIS data and China custom data.
