Value of plastic and rubber products imported by China 2009-2019

Plastics and rubber products account for the majority of low-cost manufactured products in the world. China, being the most populous country in the world, as well as the world’s second largest economy, needs a huge amount of plastic and rubber to satisfy the domestic demand. As of 2019, China imported over 87 billion U.S. dollars’ worth of plastic and rubber products, which was a reduction from the previous year.

Imports to China

To meet the high demand, the nation imports a huge amount of plastics and rubber products despite an already high domestic production volume. South Korea and Japan are the two leading trading partners of plastic and rubber products to China, exporting 11.8 and 11.18 billion U.S. dollars respectively to China in 2019. Thailand, The United States, and Saudi Arabia round off the top five exporting countries to China.

Global market size

With the ever-increasing use of plastics in our world, the growth in this sector has remained unprecedented. It is estimated that between 2016 and 2028, the market size of plastics worldwide will increase from 501.9 billion U.S dollars up to 750 billion dollars. As the world leader in plastic material production in the world, plastics industry in China will likely continue to grow in the future.