Taiwan and India were the main destinations for Russian seaborne naphtha exports in August, as cheaper barrels attracted buyers, data from market sources and LSEG showed.
Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products went into effect in February 2023, countries in the Middle East and Asia have become the primary destinations for Russia’s naphtha supplies.
Naphtha is a primary feedstock in the petrochemical industry for producing olefins and aromatics, which are then used to manufacture a wide range of products, including plastics, synthetic resins, synthetic fibres, and other chemicals.
Naphtha export loadings from Russian ports to Taiwan more than doubled in August month-on-month to around 370,000 tonnes and totalled 1.8 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2025, according to LSEG data.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s economy minister said on Wednesday that privately run refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organisations criticised the island’s continued trade with the country.
While Taiwan’s state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no such restriction on private companies so far.
Naphtha exports from Russian ports to India in August totalled 151,000 tonnes, down 28 per cent from July after previous ample supplies, and exceeded 1.7 million tonnes in January–August 2025.
Russian naphtha arrived at the western Indian ports of Mundra, Hazira and Sikka, shipping data showed.
China, Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey were among the other top destinations for Russian naphtha export supplies in August.
All the shipping data above are based on the date of cargo departure.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
