KIEV: Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine increased in the first three months of 2016 by 66% year on year, totalling 32,300 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report on Monday.
Last month’s SPVC imports to Ukraine dropped slightly after the February surge (14,300 tonnes) to 13,500 tonnes. The increased shipments in February-March were caused by low export prices in the US and some converters’ desire to build up considerable inventories of material before the start of the season.
Overall SPVC imports grew to 32,300 tonnes in January-March 2016 from 19,400 tonnes over the same period of 2015. The structure of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) imports into Ukraine by countries-suppliers looked the following way over the stated period:
March PVC imports from the US decreased to 9,700 tonnes from 10,400 tonnes a month earlier. Such a significant volume of imports in February-March was abnormal for the country and was caused by the desire of both converters and some traders to build up cheap inventories of resin before the start of the season (US export prices are traditionalyy the lowest ones in November-December). Imports of resin from the US totalled 22,200 tonnes in January-March 2016 versus 6,900 tonnes a year earlier.
Last month’s PVC imports from European countries to the Ukrainian market were 2,800 tonnes, which almost equalled the February figure (2,900 tonnes). Imports of European PVC to Ukraine totalled 7,400 tonnes over the stated period versus 8,700 tonnes a year earlier.
March SPVC imports from Russia decreased to 900 tonnes from 1,200 tonnes a month earlier. Lower deliveries were caused by an unscheduled shutdown at Russia’s second-largest PVC plant. Shipments of Russian resin were 2,400 tonnes over the first three months of the year, compared to 3,700 tonnes a year earlier.
