Polymer imports for May dragged down in China, Turkey

08-Jul-10

In China, the country imported a total of 1,246,000 tons of plastics in May, indicating a decrease of more than 113,000 tons from April and a larger decrease of 455,000 tons from March, when the country set an all-time high for plastic imports. Homo PP imports declined to 292,000 tons in May, indicating a decrease of 9% month over month and 16% when compared to the same period of last year. South Korea maintained its position as the largest PP exporter to China with 82,000 tons, followed by Saudi Arabia and Taiwan with respective exports to China of 53,000 and 43,000 tons. China imported 78,000 tons of PVC in May, a slight reduction of 3% when compared to April. While the month over month decline was slight, China’s PVC imports are well behind the figures seen in the first half of 2009. Indeed, for the first 5 months of this year, China has not even reached half the import amounts reported in the same period of 2009. Japan was the number one exporter of PVC to China in May with 29,420 tons, which was followed by the United States at 21,647 tons and Taiwan at 20,720 tons. In the PE market, HDPE and LDPE imports eroded by 17-18% while LLDPE imports slumped by 28% from April. The country imported a total of 266,000 tons of HDPE in May with Iran having the largest share of HDPE imports with 59,000 tons, which was followed by South Korea with 56,000 tons. Meanwhile, China’s PS imports posted a relatively small monthly decrease of 6%, falling to 91,000 tons with Taiwan being the largest exporter to the country. When looking at the Turkish statistics, the country imported 308,000 tons of plastics in total for the month of May, showing a slight decrease of 3% from April, when was a record high based on the past 10 years’ data. Homo PP imports fell by 5% on the month to 81,000 tons with Saudi Arabia sustaining its position of being the main supply source with 38,000 tons of exports. PVC imports slumped by 10% on the month to 49,000 tons in May with the US being the number one exporter to Turkey for the month. In contrast to falling PP and PVC imports, May HDPE imports rose by 13% from April to 51,000 tons while 20,000 tons of LLDPE imports were recorded, indicating a very slight increase from April. Saudi Arabia had the largest share of imports for both products with 9,600-9,800 tons of exports. PS imports were also slightly higher in May at 22,000 tons with Belgium being the main import supplier to Turkey.