Global Trade in Plastics: Few Points from UNCTAD Report

Many of us use plastic at least for marketing purposes because it is easy to carry. As a sequel use of plastic has been creating many issues in the present world.   In this article, a few points about the types of plastics and its trade for the leading countries are presented. The points have been collected from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Report published in  December 2020. So, the article is exclusively based on the points collected from the Report.
1) According to the Report plastic has been creating pollution in the  world. And this pollution has fuelled environmental debate since the 1950s.
2) The plastic life cycle starts when oil and gas are extracted then refined  by the petrochemical companies.  Fossil fuel feed stocks for plastic productions are the outputs of the oil and gas refining process and  the key inputs for virgin plastic polymers.
3) There are about 30 different types of primary plastic polymers in the first stage of the plastic life-cycle.
4) The buyers convert the pellets and fibres into value-added plastic products (intermediate or final )that are tradable internationally.
5) Although there are many plastic products traded internationally, some of these are plastic packaging, synthetic textiles and finished clothes, construction materials and industrial machinery, electrical and electronic goods, beauty and household consumer products, paints , coatings and markings, auto mobile parts etc.
6) Total trade in plastic products (excluding feed stocks and additives) was  US$ 1008 Billion in 2018.
7) It may be mentioned that in case of primary forms of plastic, the United States, Germany and the Republic of Korea were the top three exporters in terms of value. On the other hand, China , Germany and the United States were the  top three importers in 2018.
8) In case of manufactured plastic goods in intermediate form , China  is the main exporting country.
9) On the other hand, in  case of synthetic textiles China is the leading exporting country.
10) The Report also reveals that Bangladesh, Brazil, the Philippines, Egypt , Indonesia and Pakistan are the main importers of intermediate forms of synthetic because this in turn they use  to manufacture final products.

 Before conclusion, I wish  to mention from the Report that the main content of  the research paper is that international trade plays an important role across the life cycle of plastics. “Both the volume and value of trade are higher than commonly estimated and efforts to properly capture such trade face a number of methodological challenges”.