After slowing in July and August, China’s imports of polyethylene rose strongly in September, 2020, and were accompanied by rising prices. Imports of conventional high pressure LDPE and HDPE set new records.

Imports of all grades of polyethylene totaled 15.7 million tons through third quarter 2020, up 11% from the same period in 2019. The average price climbed for the third month in a row, to $960/ton. There were particularly large percentage increases on imports from Korea, UAE, the United States and Russia, among others, and declines on imports from Saudi Arabia and Iran.

YTD through September, imports of LDPE totaled 2.4 million tons, down 5% from the same period last year; LLDPE, 4.9 million tons, up 16%; HDPE, 6.8 million tons, also up 16%; and EVA, 0.9 million tons, up 9%.

From International Trader Publications’ World Trade Reports on polyethylene, and also the China Polymer Trade Report, continuously updated analyses of global trade between countries and regions, developed from the statistics of the 100 countries in ITP’s database.