Bitumen demand in Southwest China down following Continuous rainfall, production upsurge and inflow of bitumen resources overseas.
Continuous rainfall, production upsurge and inflow of bitumen resources overseas led to demand remained inactive, “put a cap on bitumen prices”, based on OilChem’s data.
With the same source, “the bitumen production in Southwest China reached 339,500 tons (12.38% up) over January-May. Zhonghai Asphalt Sichuan and PetroChina Yunnan Petrochemical, the major bitumen refineries in Southwest China, kept on their production, with a goal of 30k MT and 60k MT in June, respectively. Furthermore, the bitumen import from other regions and overseas affected the supply growth. Meanwhile the utilization rates of bitumen refineries remained at a low level of 7.04% in the area and just some high-speed railway projects seem to have firm demand for bitumen, and the total end-user demand was weakening.
June is the rainy season in Southwest China and had a certain impact on the progress of end-market projects.
Encountered with abundant supply and sluggish demand, the traders’ inventory of bitumen in Southwest China equaled to 342,000 tons as of June 17, up 40.7% compared with last year. Bitumen producers’ in-plant inventory also up 216.7% YoY, data from according to OilChem.
