Of the total Chinese PP/PE markets - a relatively large part consists of imported materials. And given the overal size of the the Cinese market - this means that Chinese import price is usually the determining factor of polymer pricing in most other Asia markets. The rationale is quite simple - all else being equal - most producers prefer to export excess capacities to China, because doing business is relatively simple and volumes can be large. So - China typically at a discount vs other major import markets. Normally - the import price is then a determining factor for what the domestic price is (account for import duties, VAT etc - and you get to the benchmark domestic price). However - the last months the link between domestic and import price seems to have disappeared - with prices even moving in opposite directions. This has left regional markets in great uncertainty - because the direction seems to be lost. As a result - prices have risen sharply in one country and stayed stable in others.

Overall - this is quite unsettling for plastic converters - but for e-commerce users there is an unexpected bonus. Due to the transparency of our pricing - customers know exactly what prices are doing - week to week and day to day.