Over 2 million tons of PET polymer were traded globally in the first quarter of 2014, up 13% from the prior year’s first quarter. Expanded trade within the Asia-Pacific region and a 27% jump in exports from Asia-Pacific to other regions were major factors in the higher global trade volume in the first quarter of 2014. Asia-Pacific exports to Western Europe jumped 75%, to Eastern Europe, 23%, to Africa, 55%. Exports from Eastern Europe and the Middle East contracted. China’s exports soared to a new record high in March and shipments for the quarter totaled nearly 600,000 tons, up 44%.