China’s imports of both virgin and recycle polymers tend to slow during the month of October because of the national holiday. In October 2015, however, imports of virgin polymers eased only slightly while imports of recycle polymer plummeted, sharply lower prices on virgin material making recycle polymer less competitive.

Prices on virgin polymers dropped in September and October, erasing the moderate gains made mid-year. Lower prices factored into the 5% increase in China’s virgin polymer imports,  to 17.3 million tons, through October. (Ethylene polymers were 9.4 million tons of this total, up 10%, with gains of 12% on imports of HDPE and 24% on EVA.)

China’s imports of recycle polymers were down 11%, to 6.1 million tons through October. (Recycle polyethylene was 3.0 million tons of this total, down 19%.)

From International Trader Publications’ “China Polymer World Trade Report“.