Italy’s overall polymer imports posted yearly increases in April 2014 while suggesting decreases month on month for some products , according to ChemOrbis. The country’s overall polymer imports climbed by 9.5% year over year to reach 353,400 tons in April 2014 while posting a drop of 4.4% when compared to the previous month.
On a product basis, Italy imported around 77,860 tons of homo-PP in January, down 4.5% from March 2014, but up slightly by 2% from April 2013. Germany was the top supplier to Italy with 17,750 tons, followed by Saudi Arabia with 15,000 tons. For PP copolymer, imports slipped by 3.2% month on month to 38,100 tons in April, with Belgium being the top PP copolymer exporter to Italy with 9,550 tons. When compared to April 2013, however, copolymer imports are up by almost 18%.
Italy’s LDPE imports were down by 9.7% month over month to reach 48,700 tons in April. The top three exporters were France (9,900 tons), the Netherlands (8,820 tons) and Belgium (8,070 tons). Despite declining on a monthly basis, imports of LDPE climbed by 35% when compared to April 2013. Imports for LLDPE, on the other hand, were up by 10.6% from the previous month at 22,600 tons and Belgium was the top supplier of LLDPE with 5,560 tons. LLDPE imports also surged 48% year on year. April HDPE imports declined 5% from March to 49,680 tons, with Germany being the top exporter (10,950 tons). When compared to March 2013, HDPE imports were slightly down by 1.7%.
Italy’s PVC imports dropped 7.8% month over month to reach 53,350 tons in April. When compared to April 2013, however, PVC imports were up by 5.3%. The top exporter was France with over 24,000 tons, followed by Germany (8,800 tons).
PS imports rose by around 2.7% from March to 14,877 tons. Belgium was the top supplier to Italy with over 3,000 tons. Compared to April 2013, PS imports inched up by 1.9%.
Italy’s PET bottle imports saw a gain of 7.3% from a month earlier in April, and they are up by almost 5% compared to the same month of 2013. Imports for PET bottle reached around 26,700 tons, with Indonesia being the top exporter with 9,200 tons followed by South Korea (7,100 tons).
On the whole, the top polymer exporter to Italy in April was Germany with over 61,000 tons, followed by France (54,600 tons) and Belgium (49,000 tons).
