Please note this report just focuses on the waste polymers of ethylene commodity code (391510), as exports of other plastics are relatively small in volume
Unsurprisingly, exports of plastics to China fell to a trickle in January, as a result of the material largely being banned from 1 January 2018, by the Chinese Government.
With only post-manufacturing plastics now allowed, exports to China from the UK of waste polymers of ethylene commodity code fell to just 379 tonnes from 1,593 tonnes a month before.
To put this into context, 20,775 tonnes of material was sent to China in January 2017.
The overall total of exports from the UK was low in January at just 15,723 tonnes down from 22,036 tonnes in December, and 43,141 tonnes in January 2016.
Malaysia was the best destination, taking 7,810 tonnes, down from 8,154 tonnes in December.
Europe took up some of the slack with 6,569 tonnes, up from December’s 2,356 tonnes. This was mainly down to Poland’s recovery in purchasing 2,658 tonnes after December’s slump of just 531 tonnes.
The Netherlands also received more material with 1,799 tonnes, up from 595 in the last month of 2017.
However, exports to Vietnam in January fell to 2,208 tonnes, from 5,185 tonnes a month before.
Indonesian imports also dropped with it taking 1,702 tonnes from the UK, compared to 3,647 tonnes in December.
PE key destinations (391510)
| wdt_ID | Date | China | Malaysia | Vietnam | EU total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01/12/2017 | 1,593,325 | 8,154,599 | 5,185,643 | 2,356,480 |
| 2 | 01/11/2017 | 1,340,655 | 11,929,056 | 8,441,914 | 5,064,111 |
| 3 | 01/10/2017 | 3,937,218 | 8,448,893 | 9,224,031 | 6,378,656 |
| 4 | 01/09/2017 | 6,735,842 | 8,836,402 | 6,965,057 | 6,021,468 |
| 5 | 01/08/2017 | 12,986,863 | 8,042,469 | 4,297,452 | 6,436,902 |
| 6 | 01/07/2017 | 14,879,464 | 6,984,245 | 2,828,813 | 1,917,806 |
| 7 | 01/06/2017 | 13,836,510 | 5,912,876 | 3,276,369 | 6,344,826 |
| 8 | 01/05/2017 | 10,244,233 | 6,634,566 | 2,371,000 | 5,126,138 |
| 9 | 01/04/2017 | 16,314,413 | 5,812,466 | 1,722,387 | 3,563,463 |
| 10 | 01/03/2017 | 20,367,409 | 2,720,115 | 1,448,964 | 4,328,398 |
