According to the recent data released by the Chinese Customs Agency, China's total plastics imports posted a monthly drop in September 2011, falling from the 1.51 million tons in August to 1.41 million tons in September. On a year over year basis, however, total plastics imports in September were higher compared to the same month of 2010.
Apart from the main exporters including South Korea (274,973 tons), Saudi Arabia (189,006 tons) and Taiwan (164,479 tons), Thailand (94,790 tons), the US (89,822 tons) and Iran (88,793 tons) were the top three polymer exporters to China in September 2011, with all of these countries, except for the US, reducing their total export volumes to China compared to August.
In a monthly comparison, Brazil (46,891 tons) more than doubled its total polymer exports to China whereas India (14,897 tons) exported less than half of what it exported in August.
In the homo PP market, China imported 314,000 tons of material in September, with the figure indicating a drop from August. The main exporters South Korea (81,983 tons), Saudi Arabia (53,605 tons) and Taiwan (27,165 tons) exported less material to China in September compared to August. Homo-PP imports from Singapore (19,091 tons), Japan (15,387 tons) and Brazil (13,434 tons), on the other hand, were up month over month, with Brazil more than doubling its homo PP exports to China from August to September. Total homo PP imports from India (10,954 tons), however, indicate a rapid fall month over month, with the country exporting almost one third of what it exported in August.
PVC imports rose for another month to 93,000 tons in September. The US (31,120 tons) and Japan (29,952 tons) had the largest stake of the total PVC imports, with both countries raising their PVC exports from August to September.
In a monthly comparison, China's PE imports were down for all products including LDPE, HDPE and LLDPE to 167,000 tons, 315,000 tons and 241,000 tons, respectively. Iran (40,570 tons) was again the largest LDPE exporter in September. LDPE imports from Qatar (9,885 tons) and Thailand (5,631 tons) were down significantly month over month. As for HDPE, South Korea (70,649 tons), Saudi Arabia (51,091 tons) and Iran (40,117 tons) left all other competitors behind in September. In the case of LLDPE, China imported less material from Saudi Arabia (69,653 tons) in September but this country was still the largest LLDPE exporter for the month while the closest followers were Thailand (35,478 tons) and Singapore (32,827 tons). LLDPE imports from Iran saw a sharp decline month over month, falling from 22,552 tons in August to 8,106 tons in September.
China's PS imports were also down in September to 81,000 tons, 24,154 tons of which came from Taiwan, 18,803 tons from Hong Kong and 16,563 tons from South Korea. Imports from these countries were down on a monthly basis across the board.
