Ethylene Dichloride Supplier & Bulk EDC Exporter – Global 1,2-Dichloroethane

Who Buys Ethylene Dichloride, and Why It Is Traded

Ethylene dichloride is one of the largest-volume organic chemicals in world trade, and almost all of it exists for a single reason: it is the intermediate step between chlorine and PVC. Ethylene and chlorine make EDC, EDC is cracked to vinyl chloride monomer, and VCM is polymerised into PVC. Roughly 95% of global EDC production is consumed inside that chain, which means EDC demand is not really its own market — it is PVC demand, one step upstream.

That structure explains why the material is traded internationally at all. Most large PVC complexes are balanced: they make their own EDC from their own chlorine. The merchant market exists at the edges of that balance — VCM plants whose chlorine supply is short, PVC producers whose EDC unit is in turnaround, new capacity that has come online ahead of its upstream units, and chemical processors who need EDC as a starting material but have no chlor-alkali operation of their own. Those buyers are not buying a commodity casually; they are covering a gap that stops a plant if it is not covered.

The practical consequence for procurement is that reliability is worth more than a small price advantage — which is the first thing to look for in an EDC supplier. A cracker that runs out of feedstock costs far more per day than the spread between two offers, and a cargo refused at a terminal because the dangerous-goods paperwork was wrong is the same loss in a different form. That is the frame this page is written in: what an industrial buyer needs to specify, verify and document in order to receive EDC on the date it was promised.

Typical EDC Buyers We Quote

What We Contribute to an EDC Purchase

As an ethylene dichloride supplier we are an exporter rather than the producing plant, and we say so plainly. What a buyer gets from working with us is not a molecule that differs from anyone else's — it is specification control against your actual process requirement, dangerous-goods equipment and routing that the discharge terminal will accept, a document file assembled before the vessel sails rather than chased after arrival, and a straight answer when your requirement is better served somewhere else.

What Is Ethylene Dichloride? Definition, CAS & Identifiers

Ethylene dichloride — systematically 1,2-dichloroethane, and abbreviated EDC in the trade — is a chlorinated hydrocarbon with the formula C₂H₄Cl₂. It is a clear, colourless, dense liquid with a sweet chloroform-like odour, produced industrially by chlorination and oxychlorination of ethylene. It is highly flammable, classified in the EU as a Category 1B carcinogen, and shipped worldwide as a Class 3 dangerous good under UN 1184.

Getting the identifiers right on the commercial invoice, packing list and dangerous goods declaration is the cheapest way to avoid a hold at the port of discharge. The most common paperwork error on this product is confusing it with 1,1-dichloroethane (CAS 75-34-3), a different substance with a different boiling point and a different UN entry, or with ethylene dibromide. A second recurring error is declaring EDC under a general "halogenated hydrocarbons" heading instead of its own six-digit subheading. Customs authorities treat both as classification errors rather than typographical ones.

Trade and Regulatory Identifiers for Ethylene Dichloride

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Physical Properties That Affect Shipment and Storage

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For independent verification of the substance data above, the PubChem record for 1,2-dichloroethane (CID 11) and the ECHA substance infocard are the two references most technical and regulatory teams accept without further discussion. The production route is documented in the 1,2-dichloroethane and vinyl chloride literature.

How Ethylene Dichloride Is Manufactured

Understanding the production route explains most of the commercial behaviour of this product — why EDC prices move with both ethylene and chlorine, why merchant availability tightens when PVC runs hard, and why two shipments with the same stated purity can behave differently in a cracking furnace.

EDC Supply Formats and Quality Levels

EDC has no formal international grade system in the way that caustic soda has "flakes 98%" or "pearls 99%". What exists in practice are quality levels defined by the buyer's process and supply formats defined by the buyer's volume and receiving infrastructure. The three combinations below cover almost every enquiry we receive.

Ethylene Dichloride Specification & Impurity Control

The table below sets out the parameters that appear in commercial EDC contracts, with the ranges commonly seen in the market. These values are given for orientation so that a buyer can frame an enquiry realistically. They are not an offer specification. The binding figures are the ones written into the sales contract and confirmed on the batch Certificate of Analysis for the material actually shipped.

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Why the Impurity Table Beats the Purity Headline

Two shipments can both be certified at 99.5% and still differ by an order of magnitude in the parameters that actually cause problems. The missing half-percent is not empty space: it is water, acidity, iron and chlorinated by-products, and their proportions depend on the production route and the depth of purification at origin. Water combined with acidity attacks carbon steel; iron catalyses decomposition and accelerates coke formation in a cracking furnace; heavy chlorinated by-products change the by-product slate downstream. A buyer who compares only assay figures is comparing the least informative number on the certificate.

Certificate of Analysis — What to Insist On

Ask for a batch-numbered, dated Certificate of Analysis issued against the material loaded, not a template specification sheet reused across shipments. A usable EDC CoA carries the product name and CAS number, the batch or tank identification, the date of analysis, the test method for each parameter, the result against the agreed limit, and the signature of the issuing laboratory. Agree in the contract, before shipment, which laboratory governs if your incoming analysis differs from the supplier's — an umpire laboratory named in advance turns a potential dispute into a procedure.

• Product identification, CAS number and batch or tank number
• Date of production and date of analysis
• Purity, water, acidity, iron, residue and any contract-specific impurity
• Test method stated next to each result
• Stabiliser content where the contract specifies one
• Issuing laboratory, signature and reference to the sales contract

What Ethylene Dichloride Is Used For

Ethylene dichloride has one dominant application and a set of smaller ones. Around 95% of world production goes to vinyl chloride monomer and from there to PVC; the remainder is split between chlorinated and nitrogen-containing intermediates and a small, shrinking share of solvent and process uses. The commercial point for a buyer is that the dominant use sets the price, while the smaller uses set the specification.

EDC, VCM and PVC — the Chain in One Line

Ethylene + chlorine → EDC → VCM → PVC. Each arrow is a separate plant, often on the same site and often owned by the same company. When a buyer asks whether to purchase EDC or VCM, the answer usually turns on logistics rather than chemistry: EDC is a liquid that ships in ordinary ISO tanks at ambient temperature, while VCM is a gas that has to move liquefied under pressure or refrigerated, in specialised equipment with far fewer available carriers. For most importers, EDC is the practical form in which this part of the chain can be bought at all.

EDC Packaging, Tonnage & Container Loading

Ethylene dichloride is dense — about 1.25 g/cm³, a quarter heavier than water — so equipment reaches its weight limit before its volume limit. That single fact governs how the product is loaded, how freight is calculated and how much material actually arrives per unit of transport. The cards below show the main packaging formats.

What Decides the Tonnage in an ISO Tank

Buyers frequently ask why one offer quotes 22 MT per tank and another 26 MT. Three variables explain almost all of it. Tank volume varies between roughly 21,000 and 26,000 litres across the T11 fleet. Filling ratio is limited by the dangerous-goods rules to allow for thermal expansion, so a tank is never filled to its nominal capacity. Permitted payload is set by the tank's maximum gross weight less its tare, and by road weight limits at both ends of the journey. With EDC at 1.25 kg per litre, the payload ceiling arrives quickly, which is why the useful question at offer stage is net tonnes per tank rather than tank size.

Tank Condition and Last Cargo

For a dedicated-quality product, the cleaning certificate and the previous cargo history of the tank matter as much as the CoA. Ask for both before the tank is filled, not after the material fails your incoming test. Where your process is sensitive, specify in the contract that tanks must be dedicated or that a named prior-cargo exclusion list applies, and require the cleaning certificate to travel with the document set.

Routing and Terminal Acceptance

Not every port, service or carrier accepts Class 3 cargo, and those that do may restrict it by service, by transhipment hub or by season. This is the single most common cause of a delayed EDC shipment, and it is entirely avoidable: the discharge terminal's dangerous-goods acceptance and the carrier's booking policy are confirmed before the offer is fixed, not after the contract is signed. Where a preferred port will not take the cargo, we quote the workable alternative and state the difference in the inland leg openly.

Is EDC Dangerous? Classification, Storage & Controls

Yes — and it should be procured on that basis. EDC is highly flammable, with a closed-cup flash point around 13 °C, which is below ambient temperature in most of the markets it ships to. It also carries a harmonised EU classification as a Category 1B carcinogen. This is not a product where a buyer can rely on general chemical-handling practice; it needs closed systems, hazardous-area equipment and a documented exposure-control regime.

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Storage Requirements at the Buyer's Site

• Store in closed, grounded systems in a cool, well-ventilated and bunded area, protected from direct sunlight.
• Keep away from ignition sources, hot surfaces, sparks and open flame — the flash point sits below normal ambient temperature.
• Use electrical equipment rated for the applicable hazardous-area classification in the storage and transfer zone.
• Ground and bond all equipment during transfer; static discharge is a realistic ignition source with this product.
• Prevent vapour accumulation. EDC vapour is around 3.4 times heavier than air and collects in pits, sumps, trenches and bunds.
• Monitor confined spaces and test the atmosphere before any entry.
• Segregate from oxidisers, strong bases, active metals such as aluminium powder, and other incompatibles listed in the SDS.
• Provide bunding, spill containment, absorbent material and appropriate fire-fighting media at the storage area.
• Train personnel specifically in flammable and carcinogen-classified liquid handling, and select PPE from a documented risk assessment.

The current supplier Safety Data Sheet always takes precedence over generic handling advice, including everything on this page. Request the SDS at enquiry stage and route it to your EHS, engineering and logistics teams before the cargo is booked, not after it arrives.

EDC Compliance, REACH Position & Export Documents

Obligations for ethylene dichloride depend on where it is made, imported, stored and used, and on the role the buyer plays in the supply chain. No supplier can honestly claim blanket global compliance without naming the framework. The practical questions are which rules apply to your legal entity, and which documents your customs file needs.

European Union — REACH and the Intermediate Exemption

1,2-Dichloroethane sits on the REACH Authorisation List (Annex XIV) because of its carcinogenicity classification, with a latest application date of 22 May 2016 and a sunset date of 22 November 2017. After that date, uses within scope require an authorisation. One exemption matters commercially more than any other: isolated intermediates used under strictly controlled conditions fall outside the scope of the authorisation requirement. That is precisely why EDC continues to move in Europe as VCM feedstock while the same substance is tightly restricted for open uses such as solvents.

The obligation sits with the EU legal entity that imports or uses the substance, not with the foreign exporter, and it differs by role and by intended use. If your destination is in the EU, tell us the intended use and your supply-chain position at enquiry stage. We would rather decline a requirement early than ship into a position the buyer cannot lawfully hold.

Dangerous-Goods Transport

Shipments must comply with the rules for the chosen mode — IMDG at sea, ADR and RID for European road and rail, IATA in the rare cases of air movement — covering approved equipment, marking, labelling, placarding, segregation, documentation and carrier acceptance under UN 1184. The Dangerous Goods Declaration must agree with the invoice, the packing list and the physical cargo; a mismatch between them is treated as a declaration error, not a clerical one.

Destination Requirements Outside the EU

Elsewhere, EDC is typically controlled through national chemical inventories, occupational exposure limits, hazardous-substance import licensing, precursor or controlled-chemical registers, and drinking-water standards. Several markets we serve require an import permit or a pre-shipment approval issued to the importing company. That permit is the buyer's to obtain, and it needs to be in hand before the cargo sails — not while it sits at the terminal accruing demurrage.

Standard Export Document Set

What Determines the Ethylene Dichloride Price

No figure appears on this page, and that is deliberate. Ethylene dichloride is priced per metric ton against two volatile feedstocks and a freight market that moves independently of both. Any number published on a supplier page is stale within days and will mislead your budgeting. We issue firm, dated quotations per shipment with a stated validity period, and we would rather explain the drivers than post a number that expires before you use it.

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The most common costing error we see is comparing one supplier's FOB number against another's CIF and concluding the first is cheaper. Insist that every offer states the same Incoterm, the same discharge port, the same packaging configuration, the same net tonnage per unit and the same specification — and that inspection, documentation and legalisation costs are named rather than left to surface later. Once offers are genuinely comparable, the spread between serious suppliers is usually narrower than it first appeared, and the decision moves to reliability, where it belongs.

How to Buy Ethylene Dichloride in Bulk

From first enquiry to discharged tank, an ethylene dichloride purchase runs through six stages. The two that buyers most often underestimate are stage four, where dangerous-goods acceptance and import licensing are confirmed, and stage six, where the document set has to be complete and internally consistent before the cargo reaches customs.

Payment and Contract Terms

We work on irrevocable letter of credit at sight through an acceptable bank, or telegraphic transfer — either in full in advance or as a deposit against the balance on presentation of the Bill of Lading copy. Cash against documents and deferred terms are considered for established buyers after credit review. USD is standard and EUR is available. For repeat consumers we prefer an annual framework contract with monthly call-off, which stabilises both allocation and equipment booking and usually prices better than a sequence of spot purchases.

FAQ — Ethylene Dichloride Supply