Iran's LPG Exports Fall to 356,000 Million Tons

Iran's LPG shipments loaded, or due for lifting, in September dipped to 356,000 million tons ahead of new US sanctions in November, after hitting 568,000 million tons last month, the highest since previous western sanctions for its nuclear plan were lifted in January 2016, fixtures from shipping sources showed.

As in recent months, the bulk of the volumes is bound for China, helping it to plug a gap in cargoes from the US, which Chinese importers are avoiding or reselling due to higher tariffs in a mounting trade war, S&P Global Platts reported.

A portion of the shipments are also seen destined for Thailand and possibly South Korea, according to shipping sources and S&P Global Platts trade flow software cFlow.

The September program takes Iranian exports so far this year to 4.06 million tons, according to shipping fixtures.

China last month implemented tariffs on a second tranche of US goods in retaliation to US tariffs. Energy commodities, including propane, butane, naphtha, jet fuel and coal, are on the second list of $16 billion worth of US products that attract 25% additional tariffs from August 23.

Late Monday, the US announced new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods starting Sept. 24, followed by retaliatory tariffs by China on $60 billion worth of US imports. The White House statement vowed a phase three set of tariffs if China retaliated, which would include an additional $267 billion worth of goods.

After the surge in Iranian exports in August, the decline in September comes ahead of the reimposition of sanctions by the US, in which international buyers of Iranian oil have till Nov. 4 to wind down contracts before Washington reimposes sanctions on the oil, energy, shipping and insurance sectors, a US Treasury Department fact sheet showed.

Beijing and Tehran agreed to boost strategic cooperation during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to China in June. Trading firm Pacific Petrochemical is taking a cargo comprising 33,000 million tons of propane and 11,000 million tons of butane from Iranian Gas Commercial Company, aboard the VLGC Pacific Yantai.