Xylene Market Analysis: Price Trend, Trade Data and para-Xylene Demand

Data source: UN Comtrade public trade statistics (https://comtradeapi.un.org/public/v1/preview/C/M/HS?reporterCode=156,842,699,410,276,528,356,360,764,458,724,40,56,251,380,616,826,124,76,484,792,682,784,704,490,702,643,36,710,818,364,203,348,300,620,372,208,246,752,578,320,508&period=202607&cmdCode=290244&partnerCode=0&flowCode=X&includeDesc=true) | Last updated: 2026-10-30

Price Trajectory, latest 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07)

The monthly customs export unit value for HS 290244 moved from USD 772.65/ton in 2025-08 to USD 1,112.77/ton in 2026-07 (+44.0% across the window). The window high was USD 1,323.89/ton in 2026-05 and the low USD 707.94/ton in 2026-01. Three-month averages put the latest quarter +18.1% against the previous one, which is classified here as neutral. The heading-level series is volatile: the largest month-on-month move in the window was +54.9% between 2026-03 and 2026-04. In that pair reported value moved +80.7% while reported tonnage moved +16.6%, so the unit-value move reflects the mix of grades and the size of shipments filed under this heading rather than a single quoted price, and the three-month average is read as traded-mix movement rather than as a price signal.

The same panel reported USD 95.1 million of export value on 99,135 tonnes over the twelve months, an average of 8,261 tonnes a month. Values are customs returns for the stated HS heading, so they capture the traded mix of that heading rather than a single quoted grade.

The EU side of the same market is one month fresher than the panel above: Eurostat Comext records EU27 imports of HS 290244 from outside the EU at USD 1,313.59/ton in 2026-08 (EUR 1,133.08/ton at the ECB monthly reference rate), +11.1% against 2026-07, on 2,386 tonnes; the twelve months to 2026-08 totalled 22,382 tonnes. On the 11 months the two datasets share (2025-09 to 2026-07), three-month blocks that far apart moved +38.6% on the export panel and -18.8% on the EU import side, so the two point in opposite directions, and the gap between them is the thing to resolve before either is used as a price reference. At this volume the monthly unit value still moves with the mix of consignments, so read it as a cross-check rather than as a second price series. Import values are recorded on a CIF-type basis by a single bloc, so the level is not comparable with the export panel — the comparison above is directional.

2026-08 is not used yet: 5 of the listed reporters had filed both value and net weight for this heading when this page was rebuilt, against the 10 that make up the locked panel used here, and 2026-09 had no filings at all. Mixing a partly-filed month into a fixed panel would move the unit value through composition alone, so the window is held at 2026-07 until the panel for 2026-08 is complete.

HS 290244 covers mixed xylene isomers, so the isolated ortho-, meta- and para-xylene headings (290241 to 290243) sit outside this series; what is measured here is the mixed-isomer trade, largely solvent and blending grade.

Supply-side factors

• Fixed reporting panel of 10 economies: BRA (76), CAN (124), CZE (203), DNK (208), FIN (246), GRC (300), MYS (458), IND (699), SWE (752), USA (842). The panel is held constant in every month of the window so month-to-month movement is not a composition effect.
• Monthly unit value range over the window: USD 707.94 to USD 1,323.89/ton.
• Latest month, 2026-07: USD 1,112.77/ton, +17.3% against the previous month, on 6,505 tonnes.

Demand-side factors

• Mixed xylene demand is led by solvent use and gasoline blending, with the chemical value set by how much can be routed through isomerisation to para-xylene for polyester and to ortho-xylene for phthalic anhydride.
• Related market pages on this site: para-Xylene, ortho-Xylene and Toluene — para-Xylene for the isomer isolated for PTA; ortho-Xylene for the isomer isolated for phthalic anhydride; Toluene for the transalkylation feed into xylenes.

Basis: these are customs unit values for the stated HS heading, not quoted spot, contract or assessed prices, and no paid price assessment is used or redistributed on this page. Every figure can be re-checked at the API links listed at the end of this page.

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