Singapore, which overtook China last year as the largest importer of Korean petrochemical products, maintained its position even in the first half of this year.
Singapore’s emergence as the largest importer of Korean-made petrochemical products, however, is driven mainly by the decrease in demand from China which greatly expanded its own petrochemical production capacity.
According to the Korea National Oil Corp. and the Korean Petroleum Association on September 1, Korea shipped 228.19 million barrels of petrochemical products to 56 countries in the first half of this year.
By country, Singapore emerged as the largest outlet for Korean petrochemical products with 41.63 million barrels. Following Singapore were China with 34.98 million barrels, Japan with 28.28 million barrels, the United States with 21.49 million barrels, and Indonesia with 16.22 million barrels.
China was the largest importer of Korean petrochemical products for four straight years starting from 2010 to 2013 but was overtaken by Singapore in 2014 when China imported 70.14 million barrels and Singapore 96.89 million barrels.
