Qatar exported 570,000 tons of methanol through August 2014, up 7% from the prior year.

Shipments to China, Qatar’s top export destination, dropped 27% through August, to 166,000 tons. (Prior to an increase in imports in the second and third quarter of 2014, China’s methanol imports from all sources had trended downward for well over a year. Increased domestic production resulted in lower imports from many countries, excluding Saudi Arabia and New Zealand.)

The increase in Qatar’s exports YTD was mainly due to much higher shipments, as well as large volumes, to Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.