Polyethylene imports in China fall in October, rise on year

25-Nov-11

China’s polyethylene imports rose for the year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) witnessed the sharpest gains of 47.6%, according to data released by the Customs Service. As reported by Platts, China imported 122,827 tons of LDPE in October, up 39,635 tons over the same period last year. However, this was 26.5% down month on month, reflecting the poor market sentiment seen in October. Meanwhile, HDPE imports were up 3% y-o-y to 266,591 mt in October. This was the smallest gain among the three grades. Market sources said this was due to production and shipping issues for film-grade from countries such as Thailand and Iran. Month on month, HDPE imports were down 15.3%. LLDPE saw a 9.1% increase in imports year on year to end at 210,272 mt. However, it was down 12.7% month on month.