In the first 7 months of 2014 (January through July), sales of foreign-made polyethylene terephthalate (PET) on the Russian market grew by 35% y/y. A total of 143 thousand tonnes of PET was imported during the period, writes Market Report. The increase is seen as the result of competitive price pressure from China. PET producers of the People’s Republic managed to sell 98 thousand tonnes to Russia in H1, virtually doubling the previous-year figure. In the month of July, sales of China-made reached 21% of Russia’s total foreign PET intake, leading to a decline of PET shipments from South Korea.
In the current situation, the weakening of the ruble against the US dollar is making foreign products more expensive. With this fact in mind, Russian producers have grounds to expect the lowering of demand for foreign-made competitively-priced feedstock in the second half of the year. To cite one example, in July the country’s cross-border intake of PET already declined by 26% relative to June, reaching some 15 thousand tonnes. The demand is negatively affected by the facts that PET perform sales are down and companies have accumulated stockpiles of PET granules.
