MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Ukraine decreased by 36% in the first ten months of this year, compared to the same period in 2017 and reached about 57,100 tonnes. The main reason is the growth of own production volumes, according to MRC DataScope.
Last month's SPVC imports to the Ukrainian market dropped to 3,900 tonnes from 4,100 tonnes in September, with US resin accounting for the main decrease. Overall SPVC imports reached 57,100 tonnes in January-October 2018, compared to 89,000 tonnes a year earlier. Stable work of Karpatneftekhim after many years of shutdown helped reduce the dependence of the Ukrainian market on imports.
Structure of PVC imports into Ukraine over the reported period was as follows.
Last month's imports of US SPVC shrank to 1,000 tonnes from 1,600 tonnes in September. Thus, imports of US PVC totalled 34,000 tonnes in the first seven months of 2018, compared to 44,600 tonnes a year earlier. February-March accounted for the peak of imports.
October imports of European PVC into Ukraine increased to 2,900 tonnes, compared with 2,400 tonnes in September. Total imports of European PVC into Ukraine were about 21,800 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, compared with 29,400 tonnes year on year.
As reported earlier, Karpatneftekhim shut down its PVC production for a scheduled turnaround on 5 November. The shutdown will be quite long and will last approximately until 9 December. The plant's overall annual PVC production capacity is 300,000 tonnes.
MRC