China imported 11 million tons of ethylene polymers through October 2017, up 20%. Imports of all grades were up substantially and volume has been heavy since August.

China’s imports of high pressure low density polyethylene, up 17%, were 1.92 million tons of the 11 million ton total of all ethylene polymers. Iran was the leading supplier.

Imports of high density polyethylene were 5.25 million tons, up 22%, top sources including Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Korea and Thailand.

EVA imports of 0.86 million tons, up 13%, were mainly from Korea and Taiwan.

Ethylene copolymer imports, consisting of ethylene-alpha-olefins copolymers plus other ethylene copolymers, were 2.97 million tons, up 21%.  As of 2017, China classifies all of its imports of linear low density polyethylene under the new ethylene-alpha-olefins copolymers code.  Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, Korea and US were leading suppliers.

From International Trader Publications’ World Trade Reports on: All Polymers of Ethylene; LDPE/LLDPE; LDPE; LLDPE; HDPE; EVA; Ethylene Copolymers; Ethylene-alpha-Olefins Copolymers; and, Other Ethylene Copolymers. World Trade Reports are continuously updated analyses of trade trends between countries and regions, based on latest import/export statistics from 90 countries.