ABS: domino effect of trade war USA x China

China mobilizes 75% of global imports of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), illustrative of the tangle percentage for business this engineering plastic caused by the pending trade war USA x China. As John Richardson, argues blogger specializing in Asian petrochemical British site Icis, the voracity of the Chinese demand for ABS (among other resins) for molded parts of electronics, telecom, computers and auto parts triggered investments in production of this copolymer in countries of Southeast Asia. By the way, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan make up the frame of the only regular ABS exporting between 2008 and 2017, Richardson in your blog, the first accounted for 46% of the exports of resin during the period in focus, while Taiwan held 44% share and the Japan .10 percent. Last year, China accounted for 43% of total shipped into South Korea, index corresponding to 343,000 tons of ABS. The increase of tariffs for us imports of Chinese products, such as optical, automotive components and disc drives, foreshadows China demand by indent copolymer. As a result, South Korean petrochemical companies have reduced the level of occupancy of their capabilities of ABS, says Richardon, decline resulting in oversupply place of butene, styrene, propylene and ammonia, inputs of thermoplastic. The alternative to export is rejected by Richardson with the loss of petrochemical margins caused by the high cost of freight from South Korea for consumer markets other than China. The dilemma worsens under the chance to dribble the retreat of Chinese consumption with spawning South Korean polymer in Europe. After all, the analyst blogger, the old world must absorb 510,000 tons of ABS in the 2019-2020 period, equivalent amount only 10% of world imports of copolymer and there is still the possibility of shooting of ruinous prices for profit between Asian resin and the European producers.