Paraxylene is a building block for polyester production and is used in plastic bottles and fibers. Prices fell 14% in December but are expected to rise again. An explosion occurred at a 800,000 metric ton per year paraxylene plant in China, just days after protests against another similar plant. Nearly 13 million metric tons per year of new purified terephthalic acid production capacity is being added in Asia this year, outpacing the addition of paraxylene capacity. Reliance Industries is one of the largest global producers of paraxylene with an annual capacity of 1.86 million tons across various plants.

1. Paraxylene
Used in fibers and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for
plastic bottles.
Paraxylene prices plummeted 14% to $825 per metric ton
(/mt) in December –Now set to RISE
Primaryinfo.com

2. About Paraxylene
• It is the building block for the entire polyester industry. It is processed to
get Pure Teraphthalic Acid (PTA) or Dimethlyl Teraphthalate (DMT) that is
further processed to form polyester fibers.
• The aromatic complexes are located on the West Coast of India from
where bulk of the foreign trade takes place. These locations have a
strategic importance as they have easy access to ports, which make it
convenient for exports.
• Aromatic hydrocarbons have been produced commercially since the early
part of the last century.
• Initially they were used as mixtures, in solvent applications. Benzene was
isolated as an individual compound by 1850.
• However the demand for Xylenes increased only after the 1950’s, when
the chemical industry started growing rapidly.
• Xylenes form the basic raw material for the production of polyester fibers,
which has become the heart and soul of the complete textile industry,
packaging, furnishing, coating, consumer goods, resins etc.

3. Chinese Plants in Trouble
• An explosion at a paraxylene plant (Dragon Aromatics ) in
Zhangzhou, Fujian province has sparked a major fire
Monday night, just days after violent protests broke out in
China's southern Guangdong against the construction of a
similar petrochemical plant.
• The 800,000-m.t./year p-xylene project was relocated from
Xiamen after protests by residents of Xiamen caused
construction of the plant to be halted in 2007. Construction
on the plant at Gulei began in 2009 after the Ministry of
Environmental Protection (Beijing) approved construction
of the plant at that site; the plant had been initially...

4. Dragon Aromatics
• Dragon Aromatics, owned by Xianglu Group, a
Taiwanese petrochemical group, is one of the
largest independently-run PX producers in China.
• The plant is set to expand its condensate splitter
by almost 40 percent by end of this month to 5.5
million tonnes a year (137,000 barrels per day),
an industry source has said.
• A condensate splitter processes condensate into
naphtha, which is then used as feedstock to
produce PX.

5. Downstream run rates key to Asia's
paraxylene demand
• Operating rates at existing and new downstream purified terephthalic acid
plants sail up as one of key factors for paraxylene demand in Asia this year,
given the addition of over 13 million mt/year of PTA capacity comes at a
time of a slowdown in China's economic growth, market sources said last
week.
• Nearly 3.5 million mt/year of new PTA capacity will come onstream in
China during the first half of 2015-- far outstripping the addition of 2.57
million mt/year PX capacity in China and India over the same period.
• Another 9.75 million mt/year of new PTA capacity will start up in China,
India and Taiwan during H2 2015, bringing to total about 13.25 million
mt/year of additional capacity to Asia by the end of this year.
• This compares to a total 4.37 million mt/year of new PX capacity this year,
after 1.8 million mt/year comes onstream in India in H2 2015.

6. Paraxylene Plant goes in Flames
• Blast in Chinese Paraxylene Plant
• Reliance Industries limited (RIL) is the 5th
largest producer of Paraxylene (PX) in the
world. With Aromatic plants located at
different locations, Reliance has an annual
capacity of approximately 1.86 million tons

7. Links
• Paraxylene trade
http://www.primaryinfo.com/industry/paraxylene.htm
• Asian paraxylene, benzene prices soar by 5% after China plant explosion
Monday - Asian paraxylene and benzene prices spiked by around 5% early
Tuesday, April 7, following the overnight explosion at the Dragon Aromatics
plant in China, Platts data showed.
PX prices rose 5.4%, or $45/mt, to $880/mt on a CFR Taiwan/China basis,
while FOB Korea benzene spiked 4.8%, or $37/mt, to $811/mt.
Traders based in Singapore and South Korea attributed the jump in aromatics
prices to the fire at the plant, which was still raging Tuesday morning.
They added that they expected prices to rise further in the course of the day.