Brief on Jan China PET bottle chip export virgin core spun yarn

China PET bottle chip exports totaled 267kt in Jan 2019 (it’s based on HS code of 39076110, if combine two HS codes, the figure may approach 300kt), y-o-y growing 31%.

PET bottle chip export order intake amounted to 390kt in Jan, hitting single month high in recent years. Plus Nov-Dec order intake, the 3-month volume is estimated at 1.1 million tons. Apart from Dec-Jan delivered ones, the leftover undelivered volume is around 500-600kt in theory (excluding yearly contract).

Traditional export destinations like India, Philippines, Ukraine, Egypt, Russia and Peru largely maintain two-digit growth. South Africa market however saw obvious decline since H2 2018 as local PET unit operated steadily after debottleneck.

Figure 1. Top 20 China PET bottle chip export destination in Jan 2018 and 2019

Note: figures are from HS code 39076110

China’s PET resin export volume to EU market boomed in 2018, as EU canceled ADD against China PET resin and China raised tax rebate. Some regions of EU registered 200-300% y-o-y growth in Jan, making China to be the second largest import origins after Korea. France imported over 9kt PET bottle chip in Jan, substantially up 345% on annual basis, and Belgium at 8.9kt, y-o-y rising 257.5%, and Italy at 6.93kt, up 39.8% y-o-y.

Besides, countries that gained rapid increase within short are also worth attention, such as Canada, Uruguay, Ethiopia, UAE, Croatia, Israel and Kyrgyzstan etc. Growth in some places even reached 5-10 times the original figure. This is somehow correlated with the sign of contract end 2018 by overseas plants, and the low price of China PET bottle chip also helped Chinese enterprises gain some market share.

Export order intake generally shrank in Feb due to holiday impact, but still reached 200kt. Overall, to be delivered volume in Q1 is assessed at 800kt or above.