Imports of methanol into China for February hit a record single month high on large-scale closures of coal-based producers for the past four months. According to recently released trade statistics from the China Customs,China imported a total of 591,000 tonnes of methanol during the month, a more than 20 times year-on-year surge. Methanol prices decreased below the $200/tonne (€150/tonne) threshold in mid-December and led on to large-scale closure of Chinese coal-based methanol production as manufacturers suffered negative operational margins. Chinese domestic methanol output in February was only 600,000 tonnes, which implies operating rates of around 30%, given the total methanol capacity of 22m tonnes, said a methanol seller. Therefore massive imports of methanol have continued to pour into China from the Middle East and even deep-sea sources like the US and South America, he added. However, the current trend looks unsustainable in the near term, some players said. Chinese tanks are full and the downstream demand remains weak, so import volumes are likely to weaken gradually, they said.