PTA market is facing greater pressure from supply surplus

Imports and exports
According to Customs statistics, from January to November 2019, domestic PTA (including QTA) imports were around 979,000 tons, exports were around 631,000 tons, and net exports were around 350,000 tons, an increase from last year. The main reason is that due to the obvious price advantage in oversea PTA market from April to July, a large number of USD cargos inflowed into the domestic market, and the import volume in July was as high as 140,000 tons. The export market is relatively stable, and the monthly export volume has basically maintained at the range of 40,000 to 60,000 tons.

In general, PTA industry performance is tolerable in 2019, both in terms of operating rates and processing margin, staying above the historical average level. However, with the start of new capacities since the fourth quarter, the PTA-PX processing spread have been significantly compressed. In 2020, new PTA units will continue to be put into operation and the capacity growth rate is expected to reach about 20%. Compared with the 9% capacity growth rate of polyester, PTA market is facing greater pressure from supply surplus.