China's PSF imports from Southeast Asia and Africa in Jan-Feb, 2022

According to the China Customs, in Jan 2022, China's uncombed polyester staple fiber exports were 76,600 tons, down 9.21% year on year, and imports were 8,800 tons, down 52.7% year on year.

In Feb, 2022, exports were 58,100 tons, down 21.76% year on year and 21.15% month on month, and imports were 6,400 tons, down 47.13% year on year and 27.1% month on month.

Exports were poor in Jan-Feb, 2022, only slightly better than that in 2020, but worse than the same period of 2019 and 2021. In addition, affected by the Russia and Ukraine war, HC PSF and low-melting PSF exports were impacted.

 HS code 55032000 is synthetic staple fibers, of polyesters, not carded, including virgin PSF and recycled PSF.  And the imports from Southeast Asia and African are mainly the recycled PSF.  The following are the changes in recent years.

In Jan-Feb, 2022, imports from Southeast Asia reduced, to be a three-year low, especially the imports from Vietnam, have declined significantly.

In the import origins of PSF, Myanmar appeared in 2017, and the overall imports were not much.  In 2019, one HC re-PSF production line in Hangzhou was moved to Myanmar, and has not started production till now. In 2020, imports declined sharply. In 2021, operation was unstable affected by the epidemic and Feb 1 coup, and the products mainly sold to Europe and the United States. The imports totaled 378 tons in 2021, with no imports in Jan-Mar and May-Dec. In 2022, the imports were zero by now. The local plants ran in full capacity, but the supply of electricity was unstable, and the market remained in turmoil.

Vietnam started to exert force in 2018. Following the solid waste ban, domestic plants moved to foreign countries gradually. Vietnam has gathered solid re-PSF and a few HC virgin PSF plants. Imports in 2018 soared to 13,113 tons and reached 19,196 tons in 2019. In 2020, imports climbed up to 19,955 tons, and in 2021, imports were 30,567 tons. It was mainly attributed to the demand recovery, larger price spread between virgin PSF and recycled PSF and the speculative demand around the Lunar New Year.  In 2020, a few new plants engaged solid re-PSF put into operation, with a capacity of 50 tons per day, and the products are mainly delivered to China, so the monthly imports from Vietnam are higher year on year. In Sep 2021, imports were 729 tons, and in Oct, imports were only 459 tons, the lowest in recent two years. Since the outbreak of epidemic in May, Vietnam began the most strict control measures. With the relaxation of power rationing and control of epidemic, imports in Nov climbed up obviously to 1,940 tons. In Dec, the imports were 1,928 tons.

In addition, affected by surging sea freight, China-origin cheap fibers were hard to sell to Vietnam, and HC re-PSF sales were smooth in Vietnam.

In Jan-Feb, 2022, imports from Vietnam reduced largely, to be only 1,185 tons.

The imports from Thailand has tripled in 2019 compared to 2016, to 45,000 tons. The local re-PSF capacity is about 250kta in 2020, and the competition focuses on HC re-PSF. In Jan 2021, Jiulongthai Phase II has started up, with HC re-PSF capacity of 100 tons per day, totaling 200 tons per day. In 2020, imports were 42,127 tons, and in 2021, imports totaled 31,996 tons. The imports put certain impact on Guangdong market. In Jan, 2022, imports were 1,653 tons, and in Feb, rose to 2,475 tons. There are still new capacity plan and may start up this year.

In 2021, the imports from Cambodia were 1,261 tons.  In 2022, imports were zero in Jan, and 319 tons in Feb.

Imports from Southeast Asia were 98,390 tons in 2019, 78,779 tons in 2020, 76,245 tons in 2021 and 6,971 tons in Jan-Feb, 2022.

The African market has gradually risen in recent years, especially in 2018-2019, some domestic production lines have also been transferred to Africa. Therefore, the exports to China has increased rapidly from 2019. Imports in 2020 have grown by 28%, mainly from South Africa and Nigeria, but in 2021 imports from South Africa shrank sharply affected by the riots, which caused disruptions of plant operation. Imports from Nigeria in Mar 2021 were good, reaching 2,728 tons. But the imports from Africa were zero in the fourth quarter of 2021. In Jan-Feb 2022, there were only imports from Uganda of 455 tons. In 2022, exports to China are supposed to be limited, mostly to Europe. The table below shows imports from Africa.

With the relaxation of epidemic and surging sea freight, the trade outside China may increase, squeezing the export shares of China. Pay attention to the overseas plant production and sea freight.