Iran war-related disruption to crude-derived napatha supply has driven a sharp
rise in Japan's imports of basic petrochemical feedstocks for plastics, with
buyers shifting to lower-cost sources in China and South Korea, Nikkei reports.
Trade data show ethylene imports from March–May were 14x YoY, butadiene imports
more than doubled, and benzene imports rose over 28x. Exports have fallen;
ethylene exports in May were near zero. Per the Japan Petrochemical Industry
Association, April ethylene imports exceeded exports by 19,000 tonnes and May by
15,000 tons — the first monthly net ethylene import since comparable data
began in 2000.
