South Korea's export of isomer-grade mixed xylenes rose 56.6% year on year to 81,201 mt in September, following two months of declines, customs data released over the weekend shows.
The exports also jumped 38.4% from August with the increases mainly attributed to increased demand from China.
On a year-on-year basis, South Korea's exports to China posted the largest increase, rising to 35,611 mt from 11,180 mt. On a monthly basis, exports into Taiwan jumped 88.2% from August to 37,625 mt in September.
The massive increase in isomer-MX exports to China is due to the country's strong downstream paraxylene market, market sources said.
Meanwhile, isomer-MX shipments into South Korea in September fell by a marginal 1.1% from a year earlier and 29.3% from August to 67,561 mt.
South Korea imported 25,715 mt of isomer-MX from Japan in September, a fall of 35.4% year on year and 1.0% from a month earlier.
Isomer-MX imports from the US slipped 49.05% from August to 28,385 mt in September on the closure of the US-Asia arbitrage in August.
