Continued growth in expandable polystyrene demand in Eastern Europe was evident from both the region’s higher intra-regional trade and also higher imports over the last three years from 2015 through 2018. For the first time over that period, in 2018 Eastern Europe’s imports from Western Europe slipped.

Eastern Europe’s intra-regional trade has expanded by 8%-9% each year from 2015, reaching 176,000 tons in 2018.

Eastern Europe’s imports have risen by 1% – 3% each year from 2015. The region is the world’s largest importer of expandable polystyrene, total volume at 493,000 tons in 2018.

By far, most of the region’s imports are from Western Europe. Volumes from that source rose in 2016 and 2017, but fell by 3% in 2018, to 398,000 tons.

In 2018, in addition to higher intra-regional trade, Eastern Europe’s imports from Western Europe were impacted by rising volumes from the Middle East. These totaled 31,000 tons, up 138%. Imports also increased from Asia-Pacific, up 1%, to 63,000 tons.

From International Trader Publications’ Expandable Polystyrene World Trade Report, a continuously updated analysis of global trade trends.