Italy’s polymer imports from alternative supply sources rise in March

Italy’s polymer imports rose in March 2011, thereby posting a continuous increase over the first three months of 2011, according to the recent statistics revealed by Eurostat as per ChemOrbis. When compared on a yearly basis for the month of March, Italy’s total polymer imports were the highest ever going back to the year 2000. The country imported 427,000 tons of plastics in March 2011. The top three exporters to Italy were Germany with 79,412 tons, France with 70,577 tons and Belgium with 60,382 tons, all raising their export volumes from February to March. Apart from these countries, the US and Mexico became significant exporters in March 2011, with total imports from these countries posting a noticeable jump on a monthly basis. Imports from Mexico were doubled from February to March, reaching 5,510 tons while Italy imported seven times more US cargoes than what it imported in February, with the total imports from the US reaching 5,940 tons. Imports from Qatar, Brazil, Egypt and Iran were also doubled month over month while Colombia exported seven times more than what it exported in February. Exports from Russia were tripled although they constituted only a small quantity. Other countries which raised their exports to Italy from February to March included South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, Kuwait, Oman, Hungary, Pakistan and India.. In March 2011, Italy imported material from Malaysia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the first time since the start of 2011, although they were very low in volumes. Imports from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Croatia, Sweden and Ukraine, on the other hand, were down month over month. Italy’s homo PP imports were up from February to March at 94,000 tons. Germany had the largest share with 22,504 tons, which was followed by France with 14,478 tons and Saudi Arabia with 13,422 tons, with imports from these countries rising on a monthly basis across the board. The country’s PVC imports showed a steady increase over the first three month rising to 72,000 tons in March. PVC imports were dominated by France with 25,981 tons. The closest followers were Germany with 9,724 tons and Mexico with 7,437 tons. Italy, meanwhile, imported 1000 tons of PVC from Colombia and 25 tons from Turkey in March for the first time in 2011. The total LLDPE imports in March were also the highest since January 2011 at 57,000 tons. Belgium was the largest exporter with 8,236 tons, which was followed by Germany with 7,542 tons and France with 7,470 tons. LDPE from Mexico with 99 tons and Egypt with 25 tons showed up for the first time since the start of 2011. Looking at HDPE exporters to Italy, the country imported 61,000 tons in March, 11,639 tons of which was from Germany, 10,351 tons of which was from Belgium and 7,779 tons of which was from Hungary. The country, which hadn’t imported any HDPE from Thailand and Egypt in February, started to import these origins in March. As for LLDPE, the total imports were 28,000 tons. Belgium was the largest exporter with 8,861 tons while other exporters were Saudi Arabia with 4,835 tons and France with 3,713 tons. In the month of March, LLDPE from India, Mexico and Thailand also showed up for the first time in 2011 albeit in small quantities. In the PS market, where 27,000 tons of material was imported in March 2011, German PS left all other competitors behind with 8,578 tons, with other followers including Belgium and France at or remaining below 5,000 tons. In a monthly comparison, PS imports from the US and India were doubled while imports from Russia were tripled. The largest jump was seen in imports from Pakistan, with the country importing seven times more than what it imported in February.