China's PSF imports from Southeast Asia and Africa in Jan-Nov, 2020

According to the China customs, in Nov 2020, China's uncombed polyester staple fiber exports were 88,300 tons, a year-on-year increase of 24.4%, and a month-on-month increase of 18.8%, and imports were 18,300 tons, up 35.6% from last month and 2.8% from a year ago.

Exports reached a low in May, continued to rise from Jul to Sep, and maintained above 70kt in Oct. In Nov, exports increased further, showing the hot demand from overseas markets. In addition, due to the impact of the pandemic, sea freight costs soared and buyers and sellers had to accept the additional costs.

Currently, the export price of HC re-PSF maintains at $920-950/mt FOB in Hangzhou. Affected by the good orders of domestic market and volatile exchange rate, some export orders slow down. A few plants in Guangdong witness smooth exports and in early Dec, they have orders filled till Jan. HC virgin PSF is partially offered at $1,020/mt. It is worth mentioning that South America is winter time from June to July, so there will be a small export climax in March and April for filling products.

Note: The export data was aggregated in Jan-Feb, 2020, and the data in the chart was the average.

HS code 55032000 is synthetic staple fibers, of polyesters, not carded, including virgin PSF and recycled PSF.　And the imports from Southeast Asia and African are mainly the recycled PSF.　The following are the changes in recent years.

In the import origins of PSF, Myanmar appeared in 2017, and the overall imports were not much. In 2019, one HC re-PSF production line in Hangzhou was moved to Myanmar, and has not started production till now. In Jan-Jul, 2020, imports reached 671 tons. Imports were zero in Mar, May, Jul-Nov, and the products are mainly to Europe and the US. Imports from Myanmar have reduced sharply this year, and in 2019, imports totaled 4,822 tons.

Vietnam started to exert force in 2018. In 2017, imports were only a few hundred tons. Following the solid waste ban, domestic plants moved to foreign countries gradually. Vietnam has gathered solid re-PSF and a few HC virgin PSF plants. Imports in 2018 soared to 13,113 tons and reached 19,196 tons in 2019. From Jan to Nov 2020, 17,442 tons were imported.

The imports from Thailand has tripled in 2019 compared to 2016, to 45,000 tons. The local re-PSF capacity is about 250kta, and the competition focuses on HC re-PSF. In Jan-Nov, 2020, imports totaled 39,182 tons, and the imports slowed down somewhat in the third quarter. As Chinese re-PSF prices were low (prices of Europe and the US were higher than that of China), and operation was normal, the high priced re-PSF was hard to be imported, while African re-PSF imports increased due to its lower prices.

Imports from the whole Southeast Asia were 23,749 tons in 2016, 29,228 tons in 2017, 43,374 tons in 2018, 98,390 tons in 2019, and 72,374 tons in Jan-Nov 2020, far below the volumes of last year. The total imports in 2020 are estimated at about 80% of the imports last year.

The African market has also gradually risen in recent years. Especially in 2018-2019, some domestic production lines have also been transferred to Africa. Shandong Shenrunfa transfers its 17kt/year capacity to Nigeria, Guangdong Junfu’s 40kt/year capacity to Nigeria and Guangdong Sanlong’s 20kt/year to South Africa.　No PSF has been imported from Tanzania and Egypt this year.　Imports from South Africa and Nigeria have surpassed last year, and that of Nigeria are 1.5 times the volume of last year. The table below shows imports from Africa.

In 2020, the import origins include Ethiopia from Africa. In June, the import volumes were 98 tons from Ethiopia. Imports from South Africa increased sharply in July, reaching 1,114 tons, and imports from Nigeria were 565 tons. In Aug-Sep, monthly imports from Nigeria were about 1,100 tons, and its total imports by now have surpassed the all year volumes of 2019. In Aug, imports from South Africa remained highly at 1,118 tons, while in Sep, the imports reduced to 465 tons. In Oct, the imports shrank to 270-280 tons. In Nov, the imports from South Africa rebounded to 600 tons.