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Who buys South Korea’s polyethylene? Export destinations 2024

In 2024, South Korea exported $5.7 billion of polyethylene (4.5 million tonnes), 6.7% of the world total. Its main destinations were China (45%), Vietnam (12%) and India (6%). South Korea was the world’s 3rd-largest exporter of polyethylene.

Summary

Value
$5.7billion
Tonnes
4.5million tonnes
Share of world total
6.7%
World rank
3rd
Routes to the main destinations. Width: value; color: estimated transport mode.SeaAirLand

Destinations

The 20 main destinations in the latest year.

PartnerValue (USD billions)TonnesUSD per tonneShareMode
China2.5Tonnes: 2,100,290USD per tonne: $1,20744.5%Sea
Vietnam0.67Tonnes: 583,337USD per tonne: $1,15611.9%Sea
India0.35Tonnes: 240,010USD per tonne: $1,4656.2%Sea
Russia0.14Tonnes: 107,509USD per tonne: $1,2712.4%Sea
Turkey0.13Tonnes: 89,678USD per tonne: $1,4262.3%Sea
Indonesia0.13Tonnes: 90,274USD per tonne: $1,4082.2%Sea
United States0.12Tonnes: 59,329USD per tonne: $2,0492.1%Sea
Japan0.12Tonnes: 99,145USD per tonne: $1,1662%Sea
Thailand0.1Tonnes: 93,280USD per tonne: $1,1211.8%Sea
Italy0.1Tonnes: 73,040USD per tonne: $1,3011.7%Sea
Spain0.09Tonnes: 67,774USD per tonne: $1,2621.5%Sea
Poland0.08Tonnes: 54,804USD per tonne: $1,3841.3%Sea
Germany0.07Tonnes: 46,666USD per tonne: $1,5561.3%Sea
Netherlands re-exports0.06Tonnes: 31,861USD per tonne: $2,0391.1%Sea
Nigeria0.06Tonnes: 58,317USD per tonne: $1,0801.1%Sea
Australia0.04Tonnes: 40,476USD per tonne: $1,0410.74%Sea
Bangladesh0.04Tonnes: 36,814USD per tonne: $1,1110.72%Sea
Taiwan0.04Tonnes: 26,559USD per tonne: $1,5250.71%Sea
Saudi Arabia0.04Tonnes: 23,797USD per tonne: $1,6870.71%Sea
Chile0.04Tonnes: 31,455USD per tonne: $1,2700.7%Sea

Trend

Who it sells to

China was its main destination throughout the period

Value in USD billions. The five largest destinations in 2024.

  • China 2.5
  • Vietnam 0.67
  • India 0.35
  • Russia 0.14
  • Turkey 0.13

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
Partner19952024
China0.512.5
Vietnam0.030.67
India0.040.35
Russia< 0.010.14
Turkey< 0.010.13

Sources and methodology

Other products of this country

Sources and licenses

Methodology

Goods trade from CEPII BACI (BACI_HS92_V202601), which reconciles what exporters and importers report: countries that stopped reporting (Russia since 2022) appear with their partners’ data. FOB values in current US dollars; tonnes when BACI reports them. The price per tonne is the value of the rows with a weight divided by that weight. The transport mode is our own estimate based on value per kilo and geography. Data up to 2024.

Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Belgium re-export goods from other countries: their figures include transit.

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