China relies on imports for 98% of its consumption, and the US has retaliated with an embargo! According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on June 5, US media reported that the US government unilaterally determined that ethane can enhance China's military strength. The US side announced a ban on exporting this product to China! Why did the US suddenly take such a move? Undoubtedly, the fundamental reason is our high dependence on imports for ethane consumption.
Relevant data shows that China's ethane production is relatively low. In 2024, the total output of domestically produced liquefied ethane tanks is about 125,900 tons. Even if other forms of domestic ethane are added, the overall production remains small. Domestic supply accounts for only around 2% of the total market volume domestically. This means that the total consumption of the product depends on imports from foreign countries by as much as 98%. Currently, the US is not only the world's largest producer of ethane but also China's largest source of imports.
In 2023, the US exported 3 million tons of ethane, of which the Chinese market accounted for 45% of the US ethane exports. Clearly, in terms of import sources, we have a certain degree of reliance on the US. Why does our import of ethane from the US account for a larger proportion? One important reason is that US ethane mainly comes from associated gas produced during natural gas field extraction. After the shale gas revolution, the US ethane production has grown rapidly. Among the main global ethane suppliers, apart from the US, the second-largest supply region is the Middle Eastern oil-producing countries.
Objectively speaking, this move by the US may indeed bring us some trouble. Because the ethane in the Middle East mainly comes from conventional gas fields in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with an ethane content of only 5%-8%. Moreover, 90% of the ethane is used for local ethylene production. Of course, we do not lack the technology to extract and produce ethane. If the US insists on doing this, we can simply expand the capacity of petrochemical cracking to meet the demand of our domestic market. At that time, the US will probably lose the market share in our country. After all, producing ethane is much easier than refining rare earth elements.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834070394373129/
Disclaimer: The article represents the author's personal views.