What this tab covers Who makes it and how much: world capacity and output, utilisation, the top producing countries and companies globally and in India, concentration, new capacity coming, and each region's position.
Measure
Figure
Detail
Source
World capacity
not published as a stand-alone figure; extraction capacity is shared with benzene and xylenes
IMARC 2025 gives value only
World output
about 35 Mt (2025, indicative, derived)
derived from IMARC 2025 value
Capacity utilisation
not published
Tied to reformer and cracker run rates; Asian cracker rates fell 5-20 points in March 2026 (OPIS).
OPIS, Mar 2026
Concentration
not published; Asia Pacific is the largest region
Production follows refinery and aromatics complex capacity, so the largest refiners dominate.
IMARC 2025
New capacity
no dedicated toluene capacity; follows new aromatics complexes
New Chinese refinery-aromatics complexes and India's planned paraxylene expansions add toluene that is mostly converted in-house (indicative).
indicative
Top producing countries
China: largest producer and consumer (indicative)
United States: large reformer base; not published
South Korea: major exporter; not published
Japan: not published
India: 288,000 t capacity, 127,000 t output (2017, latest official series)
IMARC 2025 (Asia Pacific largest region); indicative; DCPC via CEIC (2017)
Largest producers: global
Company
Country
Volume
Year
Source
ExxonMobil named leading producer; volume not published
India had 288,000 t/yr of toluene capacity and produced 127,000 t in 2017 (DCPC via CEIC). Much refinery toluene is used captively for xylenes, so merchant solvent buyers in pharma, paints and agrochemicals import a large share (indicative).
Position by region
Region
Position
US
Large reformer base; toluene often goes to gasoline when octane is strong.
EU
Germany, the UK and France are the leading consumers (IMARC 2025); solvent demand under VOC rules.
India
Net importer of solvent toluene; pharma and agrochemical users are price-takers on Asian markers (indicative).
China
Largest consumer; conversion to paraxylene in new megacomplexes.
Japan
Exporter of toluene to China and Southeast Asia (indicative).
Middle East
Small merchant volumes; exports exposed to Hormuz in 2026.