Published on August 13, 2018

China imposed a retaliatory tariff on methanol imports from the US that will be important topic for discussion in the swelling trade war between the two countries.

The question is how producers will decide to pay or not the proposed 25% tariff waiting for a shipload of US methanol when it docks in Nantong or other Chinese port.

As per analyst, if the tariff goes through in China then buyers will have to pay more for methanol and methanol prices in China will got more expensive.

As per report, to avoid the China tariff American methanol industry have to change trade flows from the US to other countries such as Trinidad, New Zealand and the Middle East, where North American producers have plants.

Currently, China’s latest round of tariffs range from 5-25% on 5,207 US products including hundreds of chemicals attracting the highest duty.The US-China trade represents a huge ace-in-the-hole for the entire US petrochemical industry and not just methanol.

For US methanol exports, China is the third most popular destination, accounting for about 5% of all shipments abroad in the first six months this year.