ETHYLENEGLYCOL.doc

ETHYLENEGLYCOL 2007 – 2011 In 2011 the global ethyleneglycol capacity was estimated cca. 27,5 million tons, most of this capacity –about 44 %,was located in Asia,approximately 32% was situated in the Middle East/including Iran/,13,5% in North America,5,5% in Europe, about 3% in Central and South America and cca. 2% in the CIS countries. During the observed period of 2007 -2011 the Asian ethylene capacity grew by about 7,5 – 8 million driven mostly by Chinese capacity additions It is important to note China’s ethyleneglycol feedstock diversification,as of the end of 2011;thus the ethyleneglycol industry in 2011 was based on the following feedstocks:naphtha derived ethylene -81%caapcity share,MTO/CTO derived ethylene-5% of the total ethyleneglycol capacities,corn based ethanol derived ethylene as feedstock:10% of the total ethyleneglycol capacities and finally the so called dimethyloxalate route/an elder process initially developed by Ube Chemicals of Japan/ which does not lead via ethyleneoxide to ethyleneglycol: 4% of the total ethyleneglycol capacities. This is as indication,thet the country is anxious to diversify its ethylene feedstock sources in order to produce –in this case- ethyleneglycol and not being dependent solely on naphtha as ethylene feedstock. In this period of 2007 and 2011 China’s glycol capacities rose from cca. 2,2 million tons to about 4 million tons,this growth was driven mostly by the domestic industry’s textile sector. Still in Asia,the Indian ethylenglycol capacities rose from cca 1 million tons in 2007 to cca. 1,7 million tons in 2011,mainly based on naphtha derived ethylene,but a smaller portion of the Indian glycol capacity is also based on renewable feedstock. On the other hand at the same time the Japanese capacities dropped by about 0,1 million tons ,as a result of the unprecedent