The trend in global trade volume generally indicates the trend in demand for polymers that are widely traded, but this depends on supply availability. A strong upward trend was evident in global trade in 2019 and 2020 for linear polyethylene, HDPE and PP homopolymer, but not in 2021.

US statistics through November show imports across all commodity polymers up 17% from the same period the year before, exports down 15%, and fabricated plastic product imports up 23%.