Turkey’s polymer imports up in Q1; LDPE and PVC take the lead

According to ChemOrbis Import Statistics, Turkey’s overall polymer imports were up by around 2% in the first three months of 2017 when compared to the same period of 2016. On a product basis, cumulative import volumes posted increases for PVC, LDPE, LLDPE and PET while they declined for PP, HDPE, PS and ABS year on year, revealed the data.

LDPE imports posted a visible jump in Q1 to be reported at 79,000 tons, up by 34% from Q1 2016. Azerbaijan was the major supplier of import LDPE in Q1, outpacing Saudi Arabia. LLDPE imports moved up by around 10% to 102,000 tons cumulatively with Saudi Arabia, Iran and South Korea maintaining their position as the largest suppliers.

PVC imports were up by 11% to 191.000 tons in the same timeframe. Although there was a 35% decrease in March when compared to February, this fall followed the imports of 71,000 and 73,000 tons of PVC respectively in January and February.

France remained as the biggest PVC supplier of Turkey in Q1 while the US, which lost a considerable market share in 2016 and was listed as the third after being the major import supplier of Turkey for more than 5 years, moved back up to the 2nd place in the list of top suppliers in Q1 with 27,000 tons. There was a notable jump in February in imports from the US in line with the arrival of cargoes secured largely in December.

PVC imports from Russia, meanwhile, displayed a significant rise in Q1, which pulled the country to the third place in the list of top suppliers, leaving many regular origins including Spain, Norway and Poland behind. More than 17,000 tons of PVC was imported from Russia in the first three months, which almost quadrupled the total volume imported in 2016.

PET imports were also up in line with the rapidly rising sales of a local producer from a free zone.

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On the other hand, Turkey imported 399,000 tons of homo PP during Q1, showing a slight drop of around 2% from the same quarter of 2016. Imports of PP copolymer also lost 5% to be reported at 73,000 tons. HDPE imports were down by 8% to 167,000 tons for the first three months, according to ChemOrbis Import Statistics.

As for styrenics, imports were down all for PS, ABS and EPS during the first three months of the year. The data pointed to a drop of 16% for PS, 14% for ABS and 29% for EPS with respect to 2016. Turkey’s PS imports from Iran almost tripled in the first quarter of 2017, in the meantime.