By Siyi Liu, Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -China has waived the 125% tariff on ethane imports from the United States imposed earlier this month, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, among a group of products that have been granted exemptions.

The move will ease pressure on Chinese firms that import U.S. ethane for petrochemical production as well as provide an outlet for the natural gas liquid, a byproduct of U.S. shale gas production.

The sources said the tariff on ethane had been waived in recent days. One of them said the waiver has not been publicly announced. They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

China's Ministry of Commerce and China customs could not be immediately reached after office hours.

Reuters reported last week that some pharmaceutical, aerospace and semiconductor products had also been granted tariff exemptions as Beijing tries to blunt the economic impact of its trade war with the United States.

China increased its levies on imports of U.S. goods, including ethane, to 125% earlier this month, hitting back at U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to single out the world's No. 2 economy for higher duties.

China buys nearly half of U.S. ethane exports, which hit a record of 492,000 barrels per day in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The EIA expects U.S. ethane exports to increase to 530,000 bpd in 2025 and to 630,000 bpd in 2026.

Ethane importers in China include Satellite Chemical, SP Chemicals, Sinopec, Sanjiang Fine Chemical and Wanhua Chemical Group while the key U.S. exporters are Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu, Trixie Yap, Florence Tan and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Susan Fenton and Sharon Singleton)