Trade expanded at widely varying rates from 2017 to 2020. HDPE grew at an average annual rate of 6.5%, LDPE at 2.5%, and LLDPE at 14%.

HDPE global trade volume rose from 22.7 million tons in 2017 to 27.2 million tons projected for 2020, up an average of 6.5% per year.

Trade volume in LDPE specifically identifiable as conventional high pressure low density polymer, rose from 11.6 million tons in 2017 to 12.9 million tons in 2019, but is projected to fall to 12.4 million tons in 2020, the average growth rate over the period at 2.5%.

The highest growth, up an average of 14% per year, was in LLDPE, which includes ethylene-alpha-olefins copolymers. Volume rose from 13.7 million tons in 2017 to 21.4 million tons projected in 2020.

From International Trader Publications’ World Trade Reports, continuously updated analyses of global trade based on statistics from the 100 countries in ITP’s database.