Analysis of China’s polymeric MDI import and export in October 2022

In October 2022, the import and export volume of China’s polymeric MDI both decreased significantly year-on-year/month-on-month.

Aggregated MDI export volume

According to the latest data released by China Customs,

In October 2022, China’s polymeric MDI export volume was 57,165 tons, a month-on-month decrease of 35.6% and a year-on-year decrease of 22.8% . From January to October 2022, the cumulative export volume of China’s polymeric MDI was 842,447 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1%.

Figure 1: 2021-2022 China’s monthly export volume of polymeric MDI (unit: tons)

In terms of countries, in October, the United States was the largest export destination of China’s aggregated MDI (according to the export volume ), the polymeric MDI exported to the United States was 14,158 tons, a decrease of 16.1% from the previous month; followed by South Korea, the polymeric MDI exported to South Korea was 6,184 tons, an increase of 7.2% from the previous month; the polymeric MDI exported to Brazil was 4,836 tons, a decrease of 2.7% from the previous month . In October, China’s exports to the above three countries combined accounted for 44.0% of the total.

Table1: Top 10 Export Destinations of Chinese Polymeric MDI in October 2022 Statistics table

polymeric MDI import volume

In October 2022, China imported 16,740 tons of polymeric MDI, a month-on-month decrease of 59.4% and a year-on-year decrease of 29.8% . From January to October 2022, China’s cumulative import of polymeric MDI was 237,183 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 6.9%.

Figure 2: 2021-2022 China’s monthly import volume of polymeric MDI (unit: tons)

In terms of countries, in October, Saudi Arabia was China’s aggregated MDI.The largest source of imports (according to import volume), imported 6,570 tons of polymeric MDI from Saudi Arabia, a decrease of 70.2% from the previous month; followed by Japan, which imported 5,087 tons of polymeric MDI (including MDI mother liquor), a decrease from the previous month 51.3%; polymeric MDI imported from South Korea was 4,872 tons, a decrease of 40.7% from the previous month. In October, China’s MDI imports from the above three countries accounted for 98.7% of the total.

Table 2: China’s top ten import sources of polymeric MDI in October 2022 Statistics