TotalEnergies executive says tariffs could lead to 15% drop in petrochemical trade

SINGAPORE: Continued tariffs could lead to a 15% drop in the global petrochemical trade, a TotalEnergies executive told the APPEC conference in Singapore on Tuesday.

“If tariffs remain in place, petrochemicals trading will see another 15% drop on top of the 34% drop it has seen in the last five years,” TotalEnergies’ head of petrochemical trading, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, told Reuters on the sidelines of APPEC.

Petrochemical trading houses that do not own assets are struggling to survive, said Gopalakrishnan, adding that the petrochemical trade has already dropped about 34% in last five years due to overcapacity.