China continued as India’s leading source but imports from many other suppliers also surged, including Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States.

From 2018 through 2022, India’s imports of uncompounded PVC were roughly 2 million tons per year. This surged to 3.2 million tons in 2023 as the government incentivized growth in agriculture and construction, both of which rely heavily on water supplied through PVC pipes.

The surge in imports from China from 2021 through 2023, the sharp rise in imports from the United States in 2023, and higher volumes also in 2023 from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea is visible below:

India also imports small volumes of compounded PVC. In 2023 these totaled 21,000 tons of compounded non-plasticized PVC and 13,000 tons of compounded plasticized PVC. (Note: prior to about 2017 most of India’s imports of uncompounded PVC were incorrectly reported under the Harmonized System code for compounded non-plasticized PVC. Consequently, uncompounded PVC imports were understated during that period, and compounded non-plasticized PVC imports were overstated.)

From International Trader Publications’ World Trade Analyses for Uncompounded PVC and Compounded, PVC (combined plasticized and non-plasticized) continuously updated analyses of global trade based on all available statistics.