ANKARA: Imports of methanol into Turkey during the first half of the year totaled 283,590 mt, up 24% from H1 2015, when it stood at 228,707 mt, according to the latest Turkstat data. Turkey’s June imports also rose almost 19% month on month to 65,723 mt, compared to May’s volume of 55,446 mt. Iran was the largest exporter to Turkey in H1 on 95,644 mt, down 6% year on year. Iran was also the top exporter in June and shipped 31,562 mt on Methanol to Turkey, which was nearly double the May total of 16,103 mt.
Saudi Arabia was the third largest exporter during H1 on 52,927 mt, up nearly a third from the same period last year. Saudi exports to Turkey also grew 10% on the month to 9,835 mt in June. Trinidad and Tobago took second place for June methanol exports to Turkey, with a monthly jump of 65% to 18,152 mt, but H1 exports grew by just 2% to 29,152 mt. Russian H1 exports to Turkey also grew almost 53% year on year to 22,555 mt. However, June imports from the country dropped to just 2,494 mt, down almost 79% month-on-month.
Egyptian exports to Turkey more than quadrupled in H1 to 75,776 mt from 13,489 mt a year earlier but fell 35% on the month in June to 3,660 mt. Methanol production in Egypt has been frequently affected by disruptions to the supply of feedstock natural gas due to the summer peak demand season. Egyptian exports to Turkey in Q2 2015 were zero.
