US propane exports hit 2 million barrels a day in the first half, up 11% on India demand

US propane exports averaged 2 million barrels a day over January through June, up 11% from a year earlier, and hit a record 2.1 million b/d in April, the EIA said. Record US production from gas processing and crude refining supplied it. For dealers filling tanks ahead of heating season, the open question is how much of that supply is leaving the country while domestic storage builds.

The pull is coming from South Asia. India and its neighbors bought more US propane as Middle East supply ran into disruptions, and importers went looking elsewhere. The US had the volume. That trade flow is now a standing feature of the market, and it sets a floor under export terminal demand on the Gulf Coast.

More cargoes moving to the water keeps a bid under Mont Belvieu and Conway even when US inventories look comfortable. Retailers who lock winter supply early have less room to assume a soft domestic price just because production is high.

The EDP sale

Pritzker Private Capital is exploring a sale of propane distributor EDP that could top $1 billion, according to Private Equity Wire. A deal that size would put another regional distribution network in private-capital hands.

For independent jobbers, each of these sales narrows the field of buyers and sets a price marker for their own books. If you have been weighing a sale, a $1bn-plus process for EDP is a data point on what organized distribution is worth right now.

Farm country costs

Lehigh Valley farmers say rising fuel and input costs have squeezed what little profit was there, per the Morning Call. One grower put it plainly: there is not much of a profit to be made. Diesel for equipment and propane for grain drying and barn heat are a direct line item, and when margins are already thin those costs decide whether a season pencils out.

For fuel suppliers, farm customers under that kind of pressure may stretch payment terms and cut volume. Worth watching how receivables hold up through harvest.

What to watch

Whether April's export record holds as the heating season starts pulling US demand the other way. Whether the EDP process draws a strategic buyer or another PE firm. And how farm and small-business accounts pay through the fall if diesel stays firm.