On October 6, 2022 the EU placed additional sanctions on almost 7 billion Euro’s worth of imports from Russia. These included most polymers.

The EU ban covers imports of all polymers of ethylene, styrene and VCM, plus engineering polymers (polyacetals, epoxide resins, polycarbonates, alkyd resins and polyesters) and polyamides. Sanctions applied in April 2022 banned imports of propylene polymers.

Russia no longer reports trade statistics. Its exports are, however, visible from trading partner import statistics. ITP’s projections of Russia’s exports globally through September 2022 show lower shipments of all the polymer groups except polymers of VCM.

The EU ban will further reduce Russia’s exports noting, however, that at least half of the above volumes were shipped to countries not impacted by the ban, including Turkey, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Serbia and China.

From International Trader Publication’s World Trade Analyses for all polymers.