Polyester industry chain exports in May

In May, polyester product exports showed marginal improvement, with all products increasing month-on-month. Year-on-year, non-fiber products such as bottle-grade PET still performed best, while filament continued to be the main drag.

Polyester

According to customs data, the total export volume of polyester products in May was 1.096 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 174,000 tons and a month-on-month increase of 75,000 tons, showing significant improvement compared to the previous month.

Breaking it down by subcategories, all products increased month-on-month. However, year-on-year, filament exports still declined, while bottle-grade PET showed the most significant growth.

From January to May, the total export volume of polyester was 5.024 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 359,000 tons. Due to the decline in filament exports, the year-on-year increment in polyester exports this year remains relatively low compared to the same period in previous years.

Polyester filament yarn

In May, filament exports increased month-on-month but continued to decline year-on-year. From January to May, filament exports decreased by 131,000 tons year-on-year.

A closer look at specific countries reveals that the main impact came from the Indian market. In May, China exported 12,000 tons of polyester filament to India, a year-on-year decrease of 62,000 tons and a month-on-month increase of 4,000 tons. Excluding India, China's polyester filament exports to other countries were 326,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 36,000 tons and a month-on-month increase of 14,000 tons.

Breaking down the product subcategories, POY saw the most significant year-on-year decline, followed by FDY, while DTY actually showed significant year-on-year growth.

Polyester staple fiber

In terms of export increment contribution, staple fiber cannot compare to bottle-grade PET. However, both year-on-year and month-on-month, staple fiber showed significant improvement in May.

Among the main destination countries, the five countries with the most significant year-on-year increment in May were Pakistan and Vietnam, while from January to May, Vietnam and Russia showed the largest contributions.

Top 5 Destinations of PSF exports (unit: kt)

Bottle-grade PET

Since the end of last year, bottle-grade PET exports have started to increase significantly and have maintained a good order-taking trend since then. In April and May, sea freight shipments slowed down due to container shortages, but the year-on-year increment for bottle-grade PET remained significant compared to other products. The actual situation should be even better, and further attention should be paid to whether the export market can expand further in the third quarter if the sea freight issues are resolved.