China conceded to American gas

China has abolished a duty of 125% on ethane from the United States, on which the local petrochemical industry is heavily dependent.

China has abolished the duty on ethane imports from the United States. It is reported by Reuters, citing sources.

"This step will ease the pressure on Chinese firms that import ethane from the United States for petrochemical production," the agency said.

The cancellation of the mirror duty of 125% occurred the other day, the interlocutors told Reuters.

This is not the first time that China has abolished mirror duties. Previously, some pharmaceutical, aerospace and semiconductor products were excluded as China tries to mitigate the economic consequences of the trade war with the United States.

For the US, ethane exports to China are also important. Half of its deliveries abroad are to China. In 2024, exports to China reached a record 492 thousand barrels per day.

The introduction of duties has hit current supplies. For example, the ethane supertanker Gas Magnolia loaded on April 16-18 at the Texas terminal in the USA and headed for China via Africa. However, along the way, he stopped more than once and made circular maneuvers. The other day the tanker passed by the Cape of Good Hope.

As EADaily reported, earlier the Chinese chemical industry faced another problem due to mirror duties on liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), which include ethane, from the United States. China's factories also import a lot of propane from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

"The rally of import duties between the US and China has made American propane prohibitively expensive for factories that have sprung up in China to turn it into a key ingredient in plastic," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Propane prices have fallen by about 15% in China, and the cost of chartering specialized tankers for its transportation has collapsed. Experts noted that the duties made American autogas absolutely unprofitable for China. Last year, China ranked second after Japan in its imports from the United States. Its share was 18%.