Trade
China’s Plastics Boom Is Set to Create Another Trade Headache
- Petrochemicals have seen a dramatic expansion over past decade
- Nation’s excess translates into cheap exports, and Western ire
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A surge of Chinese plastic supply is threatening to overflow in the face of weak domestic demand, morphing into a fresh trade challenge for the rest of the world.
Parts of the country’s sprawling petrochemicals sector are running at as little as half capacity as producers cut back. But with the industry still expanding, that restraint is becoming harder to sustain.