Mid-year Global Trade Highlights: ABS, SAN, Polyacetals, Polycarbonates, PET

Highlights of global trade June 2011 YTD from ITP’s monthly newsletters on  ABS, SAN, Polyacetals, Polycarbonates PET are summarized.  

Representing nearly all of the world’s trade, ITP measured 2.3 million tons of ABS traded through June, down 5%; 252 K tons of SAN, down 5%; 413 K tons of polyacetals, up 1%; 1.7 million tons of polycarbonates, down 4%; and 3.9 million tons of PET, down 1%. ITP’s Yearend 2011 Projections show ABS and polycarbonates trade volume down 4%-6%; SAN, unchanged; polyacetals and PET up 3%-4%. Trends in global trade volume generally reflect trends in demand.

Eastern Europe was a growth market for each of the engineering polymers, imports up 8%-18%, noting much higher PET imports from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and of polyacetals and polycarbonates from Asia-Pacific.

Asia-Pacific’s exports of ABS, SAN, polycarbonates and PET were up 4%-13%, polyacetals exports jumped 30%, the latter largely on shipments to Western Europe. Europe and the Americas were leading volume destinations for exports of ABS, SAN, polyacetals and polycarbonates. Asia-Pacific shipped PET to all regions, with the highest volumes to Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Exports of engineering polymers from Western Europe were mixed, with declines on shipments of SAN, polycarbonates and PET and small gains on ABS and polyacetals. In North America, only exports of polyacetals rose slightly; shipments of other engineering polymers declined, especially PET, which was down 23%.

[important]This information is from ITP’s newsletters on global trade in polymers and chemicals, available by subscription monthly or quarterly.[/important]

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