Turkey’s H1 polymer imports rise y-o-y, PP and PVC take the lead

According to data from ChemOrbis Import Statistics, Turkey’s overall polymer imports were up by 7.6% to stand at 2,620,000 tons in the first six months of 2018 when compared to the same period of 2017. The total volume pointed to the largest H1 imports figure since ChemOrbis started to collect import statistics data in 2000.



Saudi Arabia remained as the top polymer exporter of Turkey with approximately 562,000 tons of imports in the first six months, followed by South Korea and Iran.

In a product breakdown, PP and PVC imports contributed the most to the higher volume for the period, while imports of PE followed divergent paths depending on the product.

Imports of homo-PP increased 7% on a yearly basis to 853,000 tons while PP copolymer imports were up by 14.8% at 162,000 tons in H1. Imports of suspension PVC rose by 10% to stand at 379,000 tons compared to 344,000 tons/year in the first half of last year.

LDPE imports were down by 4% to 22,000 tons in H1, whereas imports of LLDPE were up by 11% to 40,000 tons in the period on a year-on-year basis. As for HDPE, imports were unchanged at 49,000 tons. In the meantime, imports of metallocene LLDPE were significantly down by 31% in H1 2018.