Prominent trends year to date included increased exports of paraxylene from both the Middle East and Western Europe to Asia-Pacific; much lower exports from North America to Asia-Pacific but increased volumes to Latin America. Global trade in paraxylene totaled 8.2 million tons through July 2014, down 1% from the prior year. Although total volume changed little, there were large shifts in trade flows between regions.  The Middle East shipped over 900,000 tons to Asia-Pacific, up 16%. Most of this was from Oman and Kuwait, with smaller volumes also from Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Western Europe exported 162,000 tons to Asia-Pacific, up 173% from 2013. North America’s exports to Asia-Pacific dropped by 44%, to 284,000 tons, but shipments to Latin America rose 27%, to 620,000 tons.

From: ITP’s World Trade Surveys – providing a continuously updated view of current trade flows between countries and regions for specific products.