Analysis of three Asian major PET resin exporters in Q1-Q3

In 2022, the export of PET bottle chips in China reached a new high, triggering a heated discussion in the market. So how did Asia's traditionally top three PET bottle chip suppliers, China, South Korea and India perform in the previous three quarters?

Note: sorted only according to 2021 data, HS Code: 3907610

Chinese mainland

From January to September 2022, the export volume of PET bottle chip factories in Chinese mainland was 3.558 million tons (calculated by HS Code 39076110 and 39076910), an increase of 49.8% over the same period last year, of which the total export volume of PET bottle chip under HS code 39076110 totaled 3.29 million tons, an increase of 54.5% over the same period last year, which has exceeded the total export volume of last year.

In terms of major export markets, Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates are TOP5. With the exception of Russia, the Philippines and Algeria as traditional export destinations, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates showed significant growth in 2022. Among them, Turkey imported 155,000 tons from China from January to September, an increase of 786% year-on-year (less than 17,500 tons in the same period last year), is one of the fastest growing regions in China's PET bottle chip export market this year. The UAE imported 128,000 tons from China from January to September, an increase of 42.6% year-on-year.  After the intensification of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, payment system changed and logistics and transportation has been restricted. Many Ukrainian and Russian customers' original orders have been transferred to the Middle East or distributed through intermediate regions, especially Turkey, resulting in a sharp rise in local imports of PET bottle chips from China in the first half of 2022. In addition, since Russia has been removed from the swift payment system, most of the procurement demand can only be met through imports from China, so the number of PET bottle chips imported by Russia from China from January to September 2022 has reached about 200,000 tons, an increase of 41.6% year-on-year.

South Korea

In South Korea, the export volume of PET bottle chips from January to September 2022 was 278,000 tons, an increase of 8% year-on-year. Among them, the United States is still the main export destination of South Korea. In the first three quarters, the export volume of PET bottle chip factories of South Korea to the United States was 120,000 tons, an increase of 27.7% over the same period last year, accounting for about 43% of South Korea's PET bottle chip export. The main reason is that at present, the tariff imposed by the United States on South Korea is basically zero, and it has a certain advantage in freight rates over other regions. The second largest destination market is the European Union. From January to September, South Korea exported about 60,000 tons of PET bottle chips to the European Union, accounting for 21-22% of the total export volume. South Korea also has a certain export volume to Japan, but due to the small share of Korean PET bottle chips in the Japanese bottle blowing market, it is mainly used for packaging products. The export volume is 34,000 tons from January to September, basically flat with the same period last year. In addition, South Korea also has a small amount of exports to mainland China, but most of them are not bottle chips, mainly high value-added fiber chips.

India

In India, the export volume of PET bottle chips from January to August 2022 was 382,000 tons, down 14.4% from the same period last year. At present, the official website of the Indian Customs has not yet released the September data, but according to statistics in the first eight months, the main destinations for India's exports are basically neighboring countries and regions, such as Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and so on. However, in recent years, due to the frequent imbalance between supply and demand in the EU region, India has also exported a lot of PET bottle chips to Europe. Italy is currently one of the most important export markets for Indian PET bottle chip producers, with a total of 50,000 tons in the first eight months, accounting for 13% of India's total exports, down 12% from a year earlier. The exports to Spain was 15,000 ton, an increase of 20.6% over the same period last year; and 14,000 tons to Belgium, an increase of 24.8% over the same period last year. However, starting from January 2023, the EU region will impose a 6.5% import tariff on India, coupled with previous countervailing duties, making it more difficult for Indian companies to continue to export more PET bottle chips to the EU region.

Overall, the share of China's PET bottle chips in the global export market is close to 40%. It is not only the main source of supply, but also the world's largest consumer market, and there is still potential for future growth. South Korea and India currently rely more on the preferential policies and tariffs of the destination market. If the policy of the destination countries change significantly, the export of PET bottle chips in the future may be evidently hit. Moreover, the export volume of PET bottle chips in Vietnam has also increased year by year in the past two years, but due to the temporary lack of specific export data, it will be introduced and analyzed later.