Traditionally, beginning of the year is the time when buying activity is minimal; therefore, polystyrene imports are minor for the time present.
EPS imports increased more than 2.5 times (to 3.08 kt). At the same time, feedstock supply fell by more than two times compared to December. There was a serious decrease in supply of Loyal's material (two times). Russian companies were not importing Wuxi's EPS in January.
In January, ABS imports went up by 18% (to 1.36 kt) compared to the same month last year. The share of injection moulding grades amounted to 87% of overall ABS imports. Major volumes of injection moulding material belonged to feedstock imported from Asian countries (61%).
HIPS imports were 25% down (to 0.99 kt), having decreased nearly two times compared to December. Supply of BASF's material dropped sharply (3.5 times).
In January, GPPS imports increased 1% (to 0.80 kt), those of SAN - 64% (to 0.27 kt); at the same time, SBS imports fell by 19% (to 0.16 kt) compared to the same month last year.
For more detailed information on the Russian polystyrene market, see Data Scope.