18% increase in imports of plastic products in Saudi Arabia
18% increase in imports of plastic products in Saudi Arabia
Riyadh: The import of plastic products in Saudi Arabia increased by 18% to 456,000 tons in the second quarter of 2022, which was 386,000 tons in the same period last year, according to Arab media, the report of the Saudi General Authority for Statistics said. That the increase in the import of plastic has been caused by the 45% annual increase in imports from China.
According to the report, an increase of 12% has been seen in rubber products during the same period from 152 thousand to 170 thousand units. After the third quarter of 2019, total imports of plastics and rubber rose 19 percent to 7.1 billion riyals in the second quarter of 2022, from 6 billion riyals in the year-ago period. In the quarter, it increased by 18% from 4 billion Rials to 4.8 billion Rials, while the price of rubber increased by 23% from 1.9 billion Rials to 2.4 billion Rials.
Looking at the history of year-over-year changes in value, rubber has seen more volatility than plastic, but this was not the case in the second quarter of 2022 as the price of imported plastic increased by 15% year-on-year compared to an 18% increase in rubber. In the three-year period from the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2022, the value of plastic imports increased by 40%, while its volume increased by only 12%.
