China becomes world's largest PP Importing Country

11-Oct-07

China has become the largest polypropylene net import country in the world as per a report by Research and Markets. Yet, due to the rapid growth in domestic output, the import dependence degree has been declining on the whole, from 49.2% in 1995 to 34.6% in 2006. Currently, an annual demand gap of 3 million tons of polypropylene still exists in China. In 2006, China's polypropylene imports mainly came from surrounding countries and regions, among which South Korea accounted for 30%, followed by Taiwan, Singapore, America, Thailand and Japan. Estimates indicate that by 2008, China's polypropylene industry will enter a peak investment period, with an annual production capacity of nearly 6 million tons coming onstream. About 65% of this capacity will belong to the two large-scale groups, i.e., Sinopec and PetroChina.