In 2018, the US imposed tariffs on Chinese goods and China retaliated with a 25% tariff on PE imports from the US. This caused a drop in China’s imports from US in 2019 but this was followed by a resurgence in mid-2020 through mid-2021, aided in part by Covid-19-related demand. Imports from the US slowed in 2021 as China expanded capacity, but volumes began climbing again and reached a peak in 2023 at 2.8 million tons. This slowed to 2.6 million tons in 2024. From 2022 through 2024 China’s total annual imports were steady, roughly around 17 million tons per year. The increased US share of the total was at the expense of reduced supplies from the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Further declines in China’s PE imports from the US are likely in 2025 because of new tariffs and expanding capacity in China.
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Trends in Polyolefin Polymer Trade in Western Europe in 2023
Polyolefin polymer demand in Western Europe in 2023 is measurable in part from the region’s intra-regional trade, its imports from other regions, and its exports to other regions. Lower intra-regional trade and lower imports indicate a drop in demand from one year to the next. These were evident in 2023 versus 2022 for LDPE, linear PE, HDPE, and PP homopolymer. Lower polymer demand in a region is also usually associated with an increase in a region’s exports, if conditions make this possible. Western Europe’s exports of HDPE did increase in 2023, but shipments of other polymers were constrained by low demand in other regions and surging exports from North America.
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