China plastics industry slowdown

In the first 9 months of this year, the output of plastic products reached 53 million 390 thousand tons, an increase of 7.7% over the same period of last year. According to data released by the Plastics Association, during this period, China's exports of plastic products reached 166 billion 300 million yuan, an increase of 4.6% over the same period last year. The largest categories of export data are commodities ($36 billion 100 million) and parts ($23 billion 900 million). Zhejiang is the largest province of plastic products production in China, accounting for 14.16% of the total output, followed by Guangdong province (13.24%) and Liaoning province (8.35%). Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Fujian and Anhui also entered the top ten. Plastics processing continued to gather in the East and southeast coast, the west is only a larger scale in Sichuan. China's exports of plastic products continue to maintain three times the amount of imports. Total exports grew by 8.2% in the three quarter to $44 billion 470 million. Imports edged up 1.5% to $14 billion 220 million. Commodities are the largest export category, followed by plastic plates, building materials and packaging. The largest category of imports is plastic sheeting. Low prices remain the main driver of exports. For example, the average price of imported plastic pipes is 3.6 times that of the export.