Polymer imports down in Italy in April 2011

According to recent statistics revealed by Eurostat, Italy’s plastics imports in April 2011 dropped on a monthly and yearly basis, as per ChemOrbis. The country’s total polymer imports, which had risen over the past few months, retreated towards January figures. Italy imported 378,000 tons of polymers in April 2011 as opposed to 427,000 tons in March. The top three exporters to Italy were again Germany with 72,853 tons, France with 58,746 tons and Belgium with 47,138 tons, with export volumes from all three countries having been reduced from March to April. Saudi Arabia raised its exports to Italy to 26,268 tons, becoming the fourth largest exporter to Italy in April. In comparison with March, imports from European countries including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic were all down while imports from non-European countries including Brazil, Israel, Qatar, Taiwan, Pakistan, Oman, South Korea, Indonesia and China were up, although total polymer imports from these overseas countries constituted only a small portion of the overall import figures.Total imports from South Korea doubled from March to April, reaching 5,221 tons while Italy imported three times more Omani cargoes in April than in March, with total imports from Oman rising to 3,974 tons. Imports from China also showed a noticeable jump on a monthly basis rising from 571 tons in March to 2,658 tons in April. Imports from the US, on the other hand, plunged to 2,042 tons in April after having risen to 5,940 tons in March 2011. Similarly, imports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were down significantly from 1,012 tons to 220 tons on a monthly basis. Italy’s homo PP imports were down to 85,000 tons in April, reaching their lowest level since the start of 2011. Germany had the largest share with 17,438 tons, followed by Saudi Arabia with 16,093 tons and France with 11,568 tons, with imports from Germany and France decreasing while imports from Saudi Arabia rose month over month. Total PVC imports in April were also down to 58,000 tons from March after having shown a steady increase over the first three months of the year as per the plastics pricing service ChemOrbis. PVC imports were dominated by France, as was the case in March, with 22,104 tons while Germany was the closest follower with 9,971 tons. No other country reached 5,000 tons of PVC exports to Italy for the month. Compared to March, Italy imported less LDPE and LLDPE in April 2011, while the amount of HDPE imports did not change month over month. The country imported 46,000 tons of LDPE in April. The top three LDPE exporters were France with 7,056 tons, Germany with 6,432 tons and Belgium with 6,270 tons, with imports from these countries moving down on a monthly basis across the board. As for HDPE, total imports in April were 60,000 tons. Germany, Belgium and Hungary were the largest exporters with 10,519 tons, 10,171 tons and 8,366 tons respectively. HDPE from Croatia with 90 tons and India with 180 tons showed up for the first time since the start of 2011. Italy imported 20,000 tons of LLDPE in April. According to the data, Italian players showed limited interest in European LLDPE, with imports from European countries decreasing from March to April across the board. The largest plunge was seen in imports from the UK. Buying interest for non-European LLDPE improved in April, with Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt raising their export volumes to Italy on a monthly basis while Nigerian LLDPE showing up for the first time since the start of 2011. In the PS market, 22,000 tons of material was imported in April 2011, indicating a decrease from March. Germany left all other competitors behind with 6,643 tons, with other countries including Belgium and France remaining at or below 4,000 tons.