Egyptian exports of homopolymer PP to Turkey reached a record high in January 2013 at more than 11,000 t, marking a year-on-year increase of 13%. The country, which was the fourth largest PP supplier to Turkey, has moved into second place, overtaking India and Greece which were the second and third largest exporters, respectively, according to ChemOrbis (Istanbul / Turkey; www.chemorbis.com). Egypt’s market share in January was four times bigger than India’s and nearly double that of Greece. Saudi Arabia remains the top supplier, with January’s market share five times greater than that of Egypt.

Egypt’s homopolymer exports to Turkey have grown consistently since the start-up of a 400,000 t/y PP plant at Egyptian Propylene & Polypropylene (EPPC) in Port Said. In 2010, Egypt’s share of the Turkish market was just under 1%, but this rose sharply the following year to reach a little above 6%. Egyptian exports increased again in 2012, by just over 7%, to total over 70,000 t.

The proximity of the Egyptian plant as well as its exemption from customs duties owing to the free trade agreement between the two countries, has contributed to the competitiveness of material in the Turkish market, ChemOrbis said.