BEIJING : The recent data published by the Chinese Customs suggests that the polymer imports by the country during the month of February declined sharply to touch 5 year lows.
The country’s total imports of polymer during February were 910,000 tonnes. It is for the first time in five years that the imports have slid below the one million tonne mark. The total polymer imports during February plunged 73% when compared to the 1.5 million tonnes of imports during January. The total imports are down 62% in comparison with the imports during same month the last year.
The net monthly imports had earlier gone below 1 million tonnes in 2008 during the global economic turndown. Since then, it had managed to hold above these levels. The cumulative imports for the initial two months registered a decline of 4.8% year-on-year. The percentage of decline is comparatively lower because the New Year fell during January to February in 2012.
The slump in imports was mainly attributed to the fall in demand owing to Chinese New Year. The New Year holidays in 2012 were in Jan-Feb in 2012, whereas the same fell entirely during February this year. The high levels of inventories prevented suppliers from importing further goods. The demand is expected to pick up during the month of March. The trade expects a rebound to levels above 1 million tonnes in March.
Source: http://www.scrapmonster.com/news/chinese-polymer-imports-plunged-to-five-year-low-in-february/1/8626
