MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips into Kazakhstan dropped over the first three quarters 2015 by 17% and totalled 37,950 tonnes, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.
Chinese PET accounted for 86% in the supply structure. Korean producers of PET chips accounted for the remaining 14% of imports.
Imports fell significantly in September. The September PET shipments fell by 2.5 times from August and totalled about 2,000 tonnes. Such a sharp fall in imports was caused by the shock devaluation of the tenge in late August.
We remind that in August, the Central Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan devalued the national currency against the dollar. Due to the major devaluation, problems with payments and a decrease in market players' purchasing power, many companies were forced to temporarily suspend purchasing of material. As of yesterday, the exchange rate in Kazakhstan was Tenge 278.55 per USD 1. Back in the first half of August, the official exchange rate of tenge against the dollar was Tenge 185 per USD 1, according to MRC analysts.
MRC