China Plastic Plants Face Closure Risk as Tariffs Hit US Ethane
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Chinese plastics factories that depend on a gas they mainly import from the US are contending with the prospect of shutdowns as the world’s two largest economies bunker down for a prolonged trade war.
The world’s dominant plastics manufacturer gets almost all its ethane, a petrochemical feedstock that is also a component of natural gas, from the US, according to analysts. Eye-watering tariffs on American goods mean plants that cannot process substitute raw materials will bleed money.