Turkey's polymer imports soar in September, plastic imports, LDPE imports, HDPE imports

Turkey’s polymer imports soar in September

03-Nov-10

Turkey’s plastics imports soared on a monthly and yearly basis in September,according to the recent statistics revealed by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). As per Chemorbis, this year’s September figure shows a trend line above the past ten years of imports, thereby setting a record high for the month. The country imported 316,000 tons of plastics in September, which represents an increase of 36,000 tons when compared to the previous month and an increase of 42,000 tons with respect to the same month of 2009. The monthly import figure represents the highest level of the last five months, reaching the same level as March 2010. Considering Turkey’s total plastics imports at 121,000 tons in September 2000, the upsurge in the amount of imports finding their way to the country becomes more apparent as the new figures almost tripled the numbers of September 2000. The largest stake of overall imports belonged to Saudi Arabia with more than 62,000 tons, which was followed by the US with more than 22,000 tons and by South Korea with more than 20,000 tons. Of the total polymer imports in September 2010, origins which are subject to customs duties accounted for 185,000 tons, while duty-free origins accounted for a smaller quantity of 131,000 tons. In September, dutiable origins were unchanged compared to August 2010, while non-dutiable origins saw a slight increase from August, rising by 35,000 tons month over month. 81,000 tons of homo PP materials were imported in September 2010 in total, indicating a slight increase over the previous month of this year. Turkey imported 55,000 tons of S-PVC in September, which represents a relatively larger increase on a month over month basis. LDPE imports inched up in September to 19,000 tons while HDPE imports retreated to 39,000 tons from the previous month’s 45,000 tons. The decline seen in this product can be attributed to the global tightness seen in HDPE supplies as a result of several plant shutdowns. LLDPE imports, on the other hand, tracked an upward trend, being reported as 27,000 tons in September 2010.