Turkey imported 668,000 tons of polyethylene and 1.1 million tons of polypropylene from the GCC in 2023. The duty rate was 6.5% on virtually all grades.

The Turkish Ministry of Trade hopes to finalize the agreement with the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Oman), quickly, possibly by the end of 2024.

Under the agreement, duties on imports into Turkey from the GCC of polyethylene and polypropylene, among many other products, would potentially be reduced or fall to zero, which is the rate currently applied by Turkey on imports of these products from the European Union.

Polyolefin imports from the United States are currently at 6.5% duty. In 2023, Turkey imported 417,000 tons of polyethylene from the US.

Saudi Arabia is, by far, the largest polyolefin supplier to Turkey from among the GCC members, accounting for over 80% of the total volume imported from that group.

From International Trader Publications’ World Trade Analyses, quantifying global trade in all grades of polyethylene and polypropylene. Analyses are continuously updated with the latest import/export statistics from all available countries.