[Lead] China's ethylene glycol butyl ether (EB) industry began domestic production relatively late, and imports long dominated supply. Before 2013, China's supply came mainly from Dow, Eastman, Lotte, PETRONAS, Lyondell and INEOS, while the local players Dynamic and Yida held only small capacity bases and ran at low operating rates — domestic producers struggled. In 2013 and again in 2018, at the request of relevant Chinese companies and following the required investigations, the Ministry of Commerce imposed anti-dumping duties on EB producers in Europe and the United States, which supported domestic players to a certain extent. Even so, when Sadara and OUCC cargoes returned to the Chinese market in 2017, imports still held a high share, and import dependence stayed above 80% year after year.
From 2022, China's chemical capacity expansion shifted from upstream bulk commodities to downstream fine chemicals. With relatively attractive margins, EB began to draw attention, and restart, commissioning and expansion plans got under way. During this period, local producers — Yida, Hailijia, Hebei Guangrun, Shandong Sanmu, Oriental Union Chemical (Taiwan, China), Maoming Dynamic, Guangdong Longhui and Ningbo Juhua — brought product to market one after another. As of August 2026, China's EB series capacity has reached 480,000 tonnes per year (including capacity in Taiwan Province of China). From the start-up of Jiangsu Yida's 10,000 t/y unit in 2007 to today, 19 years of capacity development have been full of challenges and difficulties; in 2026, industry supply is gradually shifting from imports to a domestic-production-dominated structure.
Over the past five years, as domestic EB capacity was progressively built, import dependence has steadily declined
In the past five years, China's EB series capacity grew from 120,000 tonnes in 2021 to the current 480,000 tonnes, a capacity growth rate of 300%. Following this rapid build-out, domestic output in 2025 rose 89.28% over 2021, while imports fell from close to 210,000 tonnes in 2024 to under 200,000 tonnes in 2025, and import dependence dropped to 72.61%.
2026 Middle East black swan reshapes China's supply system, with domestic supply share rising markedly
In 2026, amid Middle East geopolitical disruption, major foreign suppliers — Sadara (Saudi Arabia), OUCC (Taiwan, China), Lotte (South Korea) and PETRONAS — began implementing shutdowns and rate cuts to varying degrees at their EB units from March. China's EB series imports showed a clear downward trend in 2026: from April to July, monthly imports fell to the 4,000–8,000 tonne level, and monthly supply in April–July was 7,485 tonnes, 13,653 tonnes, 9,643 tonnes and 6,953 tonnes lower than the January–March average. In addition, the supply mix for China's EB series changed markedly in April–July: the domestic share was 63.01%, 73.51%, 70.38% and 72.48% respectively, against an average of only 35.96% in January–March. With the higher domestic share in April–July, pricing power also improved considerably. In specific terms, China's total EB imports in January–June 2026 came to around 72,900 tonnes, down 22.76% year on year, while domestic output in January–July rose 45.86% year on year.
Under the impact of the Middle East situation in 2026, China's EB imports have inevitably declined, which in turn has accelerated the start-up of new capacity. New capacity added during the year has reached 100,000 tonnes, bringing total industry capacity to 480,000 t/y. Although the related units are not yet running at full rates, import supply will be difficult to restore in the short term, giving domestic new capacity some time to fill the gap.
Looking at current EB price trends, although domestic output is not enough to cover the entire supply gap and industry supply remains at a relatively low level, sluggish demand together with still-healthy margins will keep the market range-bound to slightly weak in the near term. Over the longer term, close attention should be paid to the commissioning plans of other domestic units and to import arrivals — especially cargoes from Saudi Arabia and the United States — as these will be the key yardstick for whether the supply-demand gap widens further.