US ethylene exports remain elevated as Middle East war tightens European supply in Freight News 25/05/2026 A significant uptick in European demand since the war in the Middle East broke out has kept US ethylene exports elevated, according to the latest full-month S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. US ethylene exports have been going steadily to Europe since 2025, but shipments jumped significantly after the start of the Middle East conflict. Total US ethylene exports rose from 60,000 metric tons in February to 155,000 mt in March, with most of the volume going to Europe, according to CAS data. The main recipients were Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal. During this time, the US’ share of global ethylene exports also increased from42% to 89.8%. These levels remained elevated throughout April, totaling 124,000 mt out of the US. This surge in volume came as cracker outages in Europe kept ethylene supply tight, driving spot prices higher and boosting demand for imports. In the US, this was reflected in higher terminal fees for spot cargoes, reaching 20-25 cents/pound in mid-April, up from a previously fixed 4-6 cents/lb. “Europe couldn’t really take the risk for late delivery, so that is why the 20-cent/lb cargo got done,” an olefins trader said. While the fees on spot cargo exports have since come down from their peaks, they remained elevated at about 12 cents/pound, according to the latest market feedback, widening the spread between domestic and export ethylene prices while still maintaining an open arbitrage to Europe. Enterprise Products said during its first-quarter earnings call that its ethylene exports had been “really high,” with co-CEO James Teage citing 3 million barrels. The company, in a joint venture with Navigator Holding, owns the biggest ethylene export terminal in the US, with a recently expanded capacity of 1.55 million mt/year. Additionally, Tyler Cott, senior vice president of hydrocarbon marketing, said spot loading rates on the US