US tariffs are increasingly pressuring the already challenged petrochemicals sector, with China, the top producer, shifting its exports to Asia, industry executives said at a conference in Singapore on Tuesday.

The disruption could lead to a 15% drop in the global petrochemical trade, a TotalEnergies executive told the APPEC conference.

"If tariffs remain in place, petrochemicals trading will see another 15% drop, on top of the 34% drop it has seen in the last five years," TotalEnergies' head of petrochemical trading Ganesh Gopalakrishnan told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.

Petrochemical trading houses that do not own assets are struggling to survive, said Gopalakrishnan, adding that overcapacity had led to the 34% decline in trading over the past five years.

Tariffs are also making countries more protectionist, Sanjiv Vasudeva, executive vice-president and chief market officer of Haldia Petrochemicals, told the conference.

It has become more difficult to plan investments for the short term because of overcapacity and volatility, Vasudeva said, adding that Indian consumption remains good, with a stable growth rate — a rare bright spot for petrochemicals.

Tariffs are pushing Chinese products into "our traditional markets," said Bahrin Asmawi, chief commercial officer of Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (KL:PCHEM).

Petronas Chemicals is diversifying into specialty chemicals, as exports of products from resins to end-products have been displaced by China's push into Asian markets in the aftermath of US tariffs, Asmawi told Reuters on the sidelines of the event.

"Our main market is South Asia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam," he said.

"And all these are being supplied, being attacked by China because they cannot supply into the US," he said.

Petronas Chemicals has acquired two firms in Europe, in order to gain technology to bring to Asia, he said.

Source: The Edge Malaysia

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