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
Exports of scrap polymers of ethylene from the UK worldwide rose in May 2018 to 39,689 tonnes, up from 29,500 in April. This is up from May 2017 when the figure was 28,154 tonnes.
Malaysia has continued the trend of being the key buyer taking 10,406 tonnes in May, down from 12,171 tonnes in April. However, this is a significant increase from May last year when 6,634 tonnes was purchased.
Indonesia was the next best buyer with 8,895 tonnes purchased, up from 2,543 tonnes in April. Europe as a whole was the third highest buyer importing 6,572 tonnes, an increase on 5,155 tonnes in April.
Vietnam purchased 4,289 tonnes in May, up from 4,084 tonnes in April. This was an increase on May 2017 when it purchased 2,371 tonnes.
China surprisingly increased its imports in May up to 1,243 tonnes from 120 tonnes in April. However, this is still way off the previous year when it purchased 10,244 tonnes.
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 |
