Taiwan Tops South Korea's Naphtha Imports
It was found that Taiwanese naphtha accounted for the largest share of South Korea’s naphtha imports last month. It is considered unusual to import the largest amount of naphtha from Taiwan, which is not an oil-producing country like those in the Middle East or North Africa. This is the result of Ta
According to recent data from the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea imported the most naphtha from Taiwan last month, surpassing imports from oil-producing countries like Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Algeria. This surprising turn of events can be attributed to Taiwanese petrochemical companies significantly cutting back on the operation rates of their large-scale naphtha cracking centers due to oversupply from China.
The restructuring of domestic petrochemical industrial complexes is deemed necessary by the government. Taiwanese naphtha imports to South Korea began in mid-year and saw a significant increase in July, increasing further last month. LG Chem, Lotte Chemical, and others were among the importers. The issue lies in Taiwan's petrochemical industry facing a similar crisis as South Korea following the Middle East war in February and a 'vinyl crisis.'
Taiwanese companies have been forced to lower their NCC operation rates due to low-priced general-purpose Chinese products flooding the market. This has led to Taiwanese companies selling their naphtha overseas, including to South Korea, at lower prices. The government is pushing for the restructuring of petrochemical industrial complexes to address this issue.
Written by urgent.news from BusinessKorea's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
