PFY exports exceed expectation in Q1 2021

According to latest statistics from China Customs, PFY exports amounted to 371.1kt in Mar, 2021, a year-on-year increase of 10.69% and month-on-month rise of 55.79% respectively, hitting record high again. PFY exports totaled 902.4kt in Jan-Mar, 2021, up 29.22% on annual basis.　

Exports of POY and FDY grew apparently more than that of DTY in Q1 2021, which was related to low DTY export during the same period of last year.

In view of export origins, proportion of Zhejiang increased by 1.6% to 71.9% in Q1 2021, still ranking top, that of Jiangsu ascended by 0.7% to 14.7% and that of Fujian declined by 2% to 11.3%.

Exports of PFY to India outburst in Q1 2021. Exports of POY, FDY and DTY grew by 176,532kt totally in Q1 2021 within China, and India contributed to 113,602kt. Except for India, exports to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brazil also rose apparently. However, Turkey, which was the largest export destination previously, saw a year-on-year decrease of 30% in Q1 amid intensified pandemic after the Lunar Chinese New Year.

Export orders sharply shrank in Apr compared with Mar, which was also closely related with substantially falling orders from India. One PFY exporter received 5,000-6,000 mt of orders from India in Mar but saw scarce orders in Apr. Actually, many enterprises confronted similar situation. Operating rate of downstream plants dramatically dipped to 50% at most in India amid worsened pandemic reflected by some traders and manufacturers within China, which may reduce further. Most will not restock in short run as downstream consumption of feedstock was slow and feedstock bought before was ample. The control of pandemic in Bangladesh and Pakistan was not optimistic too. Bangladesh carried out national blockade in Apr to cope with deteriorating pandemic.

The placement of new orders were greatly affected in Apr. Delivery of export orders did not fall obviously, which could be described as good before Apr 15, but met obstacles recently amid weaker orders, hiking sea freight and tight containers. Some trader reflected that the delivery could be 30-40 containers per week in Feb-Mar but has dropped to 16 container/week recently.