Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

The Rise and Fall of Global Paraxylene Trade

New para-xylene capacity in China and also in the Middle East and the rationalization of uncompetitive production in the US and Western Europe have massively changed global trade flows.

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Trends in China’s Trade in Commodity Polymers in 2023

China’s imports of commodity polymers as a total of all grades of PE, PP, styrenics, PVC and PET, declined for the third year in a row, a loss of nearly 10 million tons of volume over the 2020-2023 period. Exports of the combined total climbed for the third year in a row, increasing by nearly 7 million tons. Shipments of manufactured products identifiable as plastic showed a small gain of 0.7 million tons in 2023, rising to 16.7 million tons.

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Trends in Global Trade in Polypropylene and Propylene Copolymers in 2023

The volume traded globally of both polymers fell for the second year in a row, primarily on trends in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific.

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Trends in Propylene Copolymers Global Trade

Global trade in propylene copolymers was 10 million tons in 2022, down 3% from the prior year. ITP projects another decline of 3% in 2023, to 9.7 million tons.

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Trends in EDC and VCM Global Trade

Global trade volume for both EDC and VCM trended upward from 2018 through 2020 but then diverged, with profound changes in regional, and country, imports and exports over the period.

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China’s Commodity Polymer Trade February 2023 YTD

China’s imports through February 2023 of polyethylene, China’s largest commodity polymer import, showed no change versus February 2022 YTD. Imports of polypropylene posted a moderate increase. On the export side, however, China shipped substantially more of each major commodity polymer than in the same period in 2022.

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MEG Global Trade Volume Projected Down 9% in 2021, to 15.3 Million tons

The decline in the global total is primarily attributable to substantially lower imports into China, which is not expected to be offset by higher imports into Turkey, India, Mexico and Pakistan, among others.

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Huge Increases in Brazil’s Imports of Polyethylene, Polypropylene and PVC Through June 2021

Brazil’s imports soared to record levels in the last half of 2020 and continued there through June of 2021. Exports during the period fell to record lows.

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