Turkey’s March polymer imports the highest ever for the month

Based on the data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Turkey’s plastics imports posted a noticeable jump in March 2011 after seeing a slight decrease in February, as per . The country imported 420,000 tons of polymers in March, with the new total breeching even the January figure. Turkey’s March polymer imports were also the highest ever going back to the year 2000. Of the total March imports to Turkey, 169,000 tons were for non-dutiable origins while 251,000 tons were for dutiable origins. The top three exporters to Turkey were Saudi Arabia with 81,780 tons, Iran with 33,723 tons and Belgium with 27, 978 tons, all raising their export volumes from February to March. Apart from these countries, total March imports from India were tripled compared to January, reaching 19,478 tons. The US maintained its position as a significant exporter in March, with total imports from the country posting a noticeable jump on a monthly basis rising to 18,758 tons. In a monthly comparison, imports from South Korea and Thailand also rose significantly reaching 17,226 tons and 12,268 tons respectively. The import total from South Korea indicates a steady rise over the first three months of the year, almost doubling the January figure which can be attributed to earlier reports of persistently slow demand from China. In March, in order to get rid of excess supplies, China was exporting material especially for PP and PE products. Imports from Libya, on the other hand, plunged month over month decreasing from 7,673 tons to 2,441 tons, the lowest figure seen over the first three months of 2011 which was due to the political turmoil in that region. Amongst European countries, most of which exported higher volumes to Turkey in March month over month, Poland posted the largest jump, almost quadrupling its February exports to Turkey. Turkey’s homo PP imports showed a steady increase over the first three months rising to 104,000 tons in March. The main supply source Saudi Arabia, unsurprisingly had the largest share with 49,211 tons, which was followed by Greece with 10,303 tons and India with 7,397 tons, with imports from these countries rising on a monthly basis across the board. The total PVC imports in March were also the highest since January 2011 at 84,000 tons. PVC imports were dominated by the USA with 14,384 tons. The closest followers were France with almost 10,000 tons and Poland with 7,591 tons. Looking at LDPE exporters to Turkey, Iran was again the largest exporter with 6,343 tons, with other followers being Belgium with 3,274 tons and Azerbaijan with 2,151 tons. As for HDPE, Iran and Saudi Arabia were the largest exporters with imports from these countries standing slightly above 13,000 tons. Other regular supply sources couldn’t even come close to this total, with the rest of the other countries exporting no more than 6,000 tons. In the LLDPE market, the largest exporter was Saudi Arabia with 13,614 while other regular exporters stayed below 2,000 tons. In the PS market, where 27,000 tons of material was imported in March 2011, Belgian PS left all other competitors behind, with no other origin even coming close to the 9,235 tons imported from this country.