China imported close to 1 million tons of recycle PET through June 2014, the volume unchanged from the prior year. Recycle polyethylene imports were 2.2 million tons, up 51%.  Japan was China’s top source for R-PET, followed by the US, Thailand, Indonesia, and, with an 88% increase from last year, Germany. There has been a general downward trend in  import prices for well over a year, the June 2014 average down to $674/ ton. Historically, China has imported the highest volumes of R-PET in the second half of the year.

Imports of recycle polyethylene were between 360,000 to 400,000 tons per month from March through June 2014, with a slight decline in average prices over that period, to $715/ton in June. The US, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Belgium and Malaysia were top suppliers, each with strong gains on volume YTD.