The Great PP Rebalancing: How China’s Self‑Sufficiency Is Redrawing the Global Market

CHINA’S RISING polypropylene (PP) self-sufficiency, evidence for which is provided by the above chart, is a combination of both aggressive capacity additions and local demand growth that, following the late‑2021 Evergrande Turning Point, has surprised most people by its weakness.

As recently as 2020, at the height of the pandemic‑driven “China in, China out” story — polymers and chemicals flowing in greater volume to China to be exported as finished goods to meet stimulus‑driven demand ...