Propylene is an important organic chemical raw material after Ethylene, basically required for the production of PP (polypropylene) and acrylonitrile among others. This particular product comes mainly from ethylene cracker and catalytic cracking units.
In recent years, due to the rapid development of downstream products of propylene, demand for the same has been rapidly growing.
China's imports of propylene were relatively small at about 3,21,000 tons in 2006, due to the inadequate production in Asia. With expanded cracking capacity in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan region, China's propylene imports have dramatically increased.
In the period from January to July last year, country's imports reached 3,47,000 tons. Propylene imports are expected to jump from 9,00,000 to 1,15,000 tons for the whole year of 2007.