MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of expandable polystyrene (EPS) to the Russian market slumped over the first six months of 2015 by 55% year on year and totalled 12,400 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report.
The Finnish plant Styrochem became the major foreign EPS supplier over the first six months of 2015. The producer's overll imports to Russia were 3,500 tonnes from January to June 2015. The increased purchasing in Europe was caused by the low exchange rate of EUR/USD and short delivery time (which allowed not to freeze the working capital for a long time) under the conditions of hard-to-get-long-term loans. At the same time, imports of Chinese Loyal fell more than 6 times. 2,116 tonnes of Loyal's EPS grades were imported from January to June. Imports of Chinese EPS of Wuxi almost stopped.
Both the increased production in Russia and the decline in the overall consumption in Russia contributed to the fall in imports. The capacity of the Russian EPS market dropped by 8% from January to May 2015 and totalled 57,000 tonnes, while EPS production in Russia grew by 2% to 51,000 tonnes from January to May. Trying not to purchase the more expensive imported material, buyers preferred Russian grades.
MRC