After several slow months China’s imports of ethylene polymers in August 2022 were up by 140,000 tons from July. The 12% fall off in imports YTD, to 10.5 million tons, led to increased exports by Asia-Pacific exporters to Western and Eastern Europe and Africa.

China’s imports of ethylene polymers from every leading supplying region were down: Asia-Pacific 4.1 million tons, down 9%; Middle East 5.1 million tons, down 7%; North America 0.7 million tons, down 17%; Western Europe 0.3 million tons, down 38%; and Eastern Europe 0.3 million tons, down 48%. Lower imports YTD were evident from every country except Korea, UAE, Oman and Brazil:

Asia-Pacific exporters shipped higher volumes outside the region. Projected through August are exports by Asia-Pacific exporters of 421,000 tons to Western Europe, up 38%, 330,000 tons to Eastern Europe, up 17%, and 363,000 tons to Africa, up 2%.

From International Trader Publications’ China Polymer Trade Report and the All Polymers of Ethylene World Trade Analysis Projected Matrix for August 2022.