Chinese carbon black export price down 16 pct on year in 2016

Chinese carbon black export has barely grown in recent years, while its export price has kept declining. In contrast, the carbon black import by China has increased sharply.

Thailand, Indonsia drag Chinese export price low

China exported some 733,000 tons of carbon black in 2016, down 0.05 percent from 2015, at an average price of 685 USD/ton, down 16.15 percent from 2015.

Southeast Asia remained the major export destination for Chinese carbon black. Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia altogether imported 424,000 tons from China in 2016, taking up about 57.8 percent of the overall carbon black exports of China.

The four nations imported carbon black from China at relatively low prices.

The average export price to Thailand stood at 651 USD/ton, the lowest among the four nations, while the highest of the four, paid by Vietnam, was 663 USD/ton.

East Asia, the second largest carbon black export destination of China, accounted for 20 percent of China’s exports at an average price of 710 USD/ton.

Great disparities among Chinese import prices

Chinese imports of carbon black has grown fast in recent years. In 2016, China imported 90,592 tons of carbon black, up 8 percent from 2015, at an average price of 2,416 USD/ton.

East Asia is the major source for Chinese carbon black import. South Korea, Japan and the Taiwan province of China sold 38,628 tons of carbon black to the Chinese mainland in 2016, about 42.6 percent of the latter’s total imports.

The United States exported 25,839 tons of carbon black to China in 2016, taking up about 28.5 percent of China’s total imports.

The lowest average price for Chinese carbon black import came from Thailand and Russia, about 1,000 USD/ton, while the highest was recorded by Belgium, about 5,121 USD/tone.

Due to the high price, Belgium ranked the third in terms of carbon black trade value with China, which reached 25.9 million USD in 2016, although its export volume to China, 5,066 tons, only ranked the eighth.