Ethylene: Movement

Why ethylene travels mostly as plastic pellets

What this tab covers How it moves between countries: share of output traded, physical form and transport, the largest exporters and importers, main routes, India's trade, and handling rules in transit.

Trade in 2024 UN Comtrade, HS 290121

World exports $5.59 bn 44 reporting exporters · about 4.58 m t Largest exporter South Korea 27.6% of world exports Largest importer China 32% of world imports India imports $62.2 m
exports $23.1 m #13 importer · #16 exporter

Where it is exported from and imported to, 2024

Chart: World map of the largest trade flows

Exporter (size = share of world exports) Importer (share of world imports) Shipping chokepoint UN Comtrade 2024, HS 290121: shares of reported world exports and imports by value. Country-to-country route lines are not available for this commodity yet. Hover a circle for values.

HS 290121: largest exporters

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
South Korea	27.6%	$1.54 bn	1.85 m
Netherlands	18.8%	$1.05 bn	976k
United States	10.1%	$567.5 m	–
United Kingdom	9.7%	$544.5 m	–
Japan	7.8%	$438.9 m	533k
Malaysia	5%	$282.0 m	339k
Singapore	5%	$279.8 m	–
Germany	4.7%	$262.6 m	242k

HS 290121: largest importers

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
China	32%	$1.98 bn	2.22 m
Belgium	22.1%	$1.37 bn	–
Indonesia	14.6%	$903.8 m	925k
Germany	8.9%	$549.1 m	530k
Netherlands	4.9%	$303.4 m	263k
Portugal	2.4%	$149.1 m	183k
Sweden	2%	$123.7 m	116k
Italy	1.9%	$118.1 m	86k

UN Comtrade 2024, reported by each country (exports by exporters, imports by importers), all partners. Some countries (for example Russia and Iran) do not report, so their shares are missing. HS codes can be broader than the tile: check the code before reading a share as the whole market.

How it moves

Measure	Figure
Share traded	about 5% of output crosses borders as ethylene (indicative: about 8-10 Mt seaborne trade versus about 185 Mt output); far more is traded embedded in polyethylene, glycols and PVC
How it moves	Refrigerated liquid at about -104°C in semi-refrigerated or fully refrigerated gas carriers (5,000-20,000 m3), or by pipeline in the US Gulf and Northwest Europe. Because shipping and storage are costly, ethylene is usually converted to polymers or glycols at the cracker.
Routes and chokepoints	US Gulf to Europe and Asia via Panama Canal or Cape of Good Hope; Korea and Japan to China; Middle East exports mostly as polymers through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about 20.9 mb/d of oil in H1 2025 (BigMint 2026).
India	India's direct ethylene trade is small; the exposure is in polymers, where imports averaged about 6 Mt a year in FY19-FY22 and about 9 Mt a year in FY23-FY24 (CareEdge 2025). HS 290121 trade figures not retrieved.
Handling in transit	UN1962 (compressed) or UN1038 (refrigerated liquid), Class 2.1 flammable gas; shipped in IGC Code gas carriers; risk of vapour cloud explosion.