Chinese, emerging markets drive demand: Methanex CEO

Rising methanol prices, sales, and production levels helped the world’s largest methanol producer, Methanex Corp., to more than double its profit in the third quarter.

“We’ve seen no softening of demand around the world for methanol despite the economic uncertainty that exists today,” CEO Bruce Aitken tells BNN.

He says a lot of methanol is consumed in China, and its use has been growing in other parts of the world as well. Methanol is used as additive to various products, including gasoline, and Aitken says the company has seen stronger Methanol demand from Europe, where its products end up in vehicles.

“If you follow automobile sales from Germany into the new-growth markets in China and India, the numbers have been just extraordinary,” he says.