India’s trade in commodity polymers in the first half of 2018 was highlighted by record high exports of virgin polymers, record high exports of fabricated plastic products, and, increased imports of recycle polymers.

India exported 1.2 million tons of commodity polymers through June, up 43% from the same period in 2017.

Exports of LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE accounted for 430,000 tons of the total, up 240%. China was by far the top export destination, followed by Vietnam, Turkey and other Asia-Pacific markets. Imports of ethylene polymers declined by 8%, to 896,000 tons.

Shipments of polypropylene were 356,000 tons, up 58%. Markets were more widespread and included Turkey, China, Pakistan, Italy, Vietnam, Nepal, Peru and many others. Polypropylene imports into India were 456,000 tons, up 12%.

As exports of virgin polyolefins climbed, so did exports of fabricated plastic products, mainly film/sheet made from PE, PP and PET and also bags and sacks from PE and PP. Together, these products accounted for nearly 90% of the 320,000 tons of fabricated plastic product exports monitored.

India’s imports of recycle polymer more than doubled, but volume to date was only 44,000 tons and consisted mainly of R-PVC and R-PE from Western Europe.

From International Trade Publications’ “India Polymer Trade Report”