43% drop in India’s June naphtha exports

India’s naphtha exports dropped by 43% month on month in June’19.  Regarded as a key naphtha exporter in Asia, India shipped 521,364 MT of naphtha in June according to the latest government data. This could be on account of the maintenance at refineries, which is now largely completed.  This is a steep decline from a near two-year high of 916,605 MT in May’19. The data further showed the total naphtha exports during January-June 2019 to be 4.35 million MT, a jump from 4.0 million mt in Q1 2018. This situation is bound to be a temporary one. A decline in freight rates has also made naphtha shipments from India to North Asia more lucrative.