Stats: Turkey’s PP, PE imports on track for record-setting year

ChemOrbis Import Statistics showed that Turkey’s total polymer imports in November surged 24% on the month and 27% on the year to a monthly total of 537,780 tons. A breakdown in monthly figures also showed a continued demand for PP and PE, with both products indicating large gains on both monthly and yearly terms.

Turkey appears to have imported a record amount of PP and PE in 2021, as data from ChemOrbis Stats Wizard show. Although December data is missing, Turkey’s cumulative January-November 2021 imports for PE already matched the 2020 record. Total PP imports are also set to catch at least the 2020’s record in December, if not surpass it.

In November 2021, Turkey’s homo-PP imports were up by almost 23% on the month and 19% on the year at 184,480 tons, bringing the 11-month total to more than 1.80 million tons. Considering that Turkey’s homo-PP imports totalled a record-high of 1.95 million tons in 2020, this year’s figures between January and November might set a new record amid the growing demand in Turkey.

PP copolymer imports –which hit an 8-year high in 2020– jumped by nearly 32% from October to 36,553 tons in November 2021. This also indicated a yearly increase of 27.5% and the largest monthly total since ChemOrbis started compiling data in 2020. The 11-month total now stands at 327,000 tons –just 26,000 tons short of the overall 2020 figures.



Turkey’s monthly PE imports were more than 196,000 tons in November 2021, marking the second highest monthly total on record. Among three main grades, demand was higher for LLDPE during the penultimate month of the year.

Accordingly, imports for LLDPE increased by 41.5% on a monthly basis and by 49.8% on a yearly basis to 76,320 tons in November. This marked the highest monthly total since ChemOrbis started compiling data. The 11-month total of LLDPE imports already surpassed the full 2020 imports. Turkey’s November mLLDPE imports were also higher by 23% from October and by 49.8% from the previous year at 11,520 tons. As was the case in LLDPE, the January-November total already went beyond the full data of 2020.

November imports of LDPE increased significantly by 55%, bringing the 11-month total to around 325,000 tons. When compared to the 320,000 tons of yearly total in 2020, this represented a continued increase in demand for LDPE in Turkey.

Turkey’s November imports for HDPE surged by 35% on the month and also by 29.9% on the year to around 73,420 tons. This was the highest monthly total since the record-setting March 2021. Unlike LDPE and LLDPE, HDPE imports for the January-November cumulative are yet to surpass the full data of 2020. However, they are highly likely to end the year near or above the 2020 record.