In 2025, China—as a core producer and consumer of ABS—exhibited a distinct import-export pattern characterized by “rapid export growth and continued import decline.” The combined effects of domestic capacity expansion, technological upgrades, and global supply chain restructuring, coupled with policy guidance and heightened environmental requirements, drove multidimensional shifts in ABS import-export data across total volume, structural composition, and regional distribution.
I. Surge in Exports, Continued Decline in Imports
In 2025, China's domestic ABS production capacity was fully unleashed, with annual output reaching 6.9158 million tons—a year-on-year increase of approximately 26%. Pressure from overcapacity spurred enterprises to accelerate overseas market expansion, driving leapfrog growth in export volumes. Customs data reveals that from January to December 2025, China's cumulative ABS exports reached 375,200 metric tons, marking an increase of 158,000 metric tons or 72.74% year-on-year—a significant acceleration compared to 2024. In contrast, domestic self-sufficiency strengthened while structural gaps in high-end demand narrowed, causing imports to continue declining. Annual imports totaled approximately 842,100 tons, down 177,000 tons year-on-year (a 17.37% decrease). Import dependency stood at about 11%, showing a clear trend toward falling into single-digit percentages.
Notably, while robust exports provided some relief to the domestic market, the incremental export volume remains insufficient to reverse the overall supply-demand mismatch relative to China's total production capacity exceeding 10 million tons. This imbalance has resulted in pronounced disparities between import and export volumes.
II. Analysis by Trading Partner
Imports remain concentrated in traditional strongholds, exhibiting high source concentration. In 2025, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Malaysia were the primary ABS import sources for China, collectively accounting for over 80% of imports. These regions maintain competitive advantages in high-end ABS due to advanced production technologies and stable supply chains.
Exports exhibit a diversified pattern characterized by stable traditional markets and breakthroughs in emerging markets, with pronounced regional differentiation. Southeast Asia has become China's largest export destination for ABS, accounting for 65% of total exports in 2025, driven by rapid economic growth, thriving manufacturing, and the benefits of the RCEP agreement. Exports to Vietnam are particularly prominent, making it the core market for China's ABS exports.
III. Analysis by Receiving/Shipping Regions
Data for 2025 indicates that ABS imports are concentrated in South China and East China. Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, and Jiangsu ranked as the top five import regions nationwide. Due to substantial demand and significant port advantages, Guangdong consistently leads in import volume, particularly for shipments originating from Taiwan, China. This year, however, imports from Taiwan decreased, causing its share to drop slightly below 46%. Zhejiang Province saw its consumption share rise slightly to over 26%. Leveraging the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, it became the province with the second-highest import volume nationwide.
IV. Analysis by Trade Method
China's ABS import trade methods are categorized into general trade, processing trade with imported materials, processing trade with supplied materials, logistics goods in customs special supervision zones, and goods entering/exiting bonded supervision areas. General trade remains the primary import method, followed by processing trade. General trade accounts for over 60% of imports, primarily due to direct imports by downstream factories for immediate use, while processing trade is concentrated in coastal regions of East and South China.
Summary: The rapid growth of my country's ABS exports in 2025 has become an important way to alleviate domestic overcapacity, but problems such as low product added value and a relatively small share of total exports still exist. Imports are gradually shifting from supplementing overall supply to filling gaps in high-end products, and import dependence continues to decline. In the future, with domestic technological breakthroughs, deepening green and low-carbon transformation, and improved overseas capacity layout, ABS import and export trade will gradually develop towards "stable volume, improved quality, and balanced structure," and China's influence in the global ABS market is expected to further increase.
As an integrated internet platform providing benchmark prices, on January 23, the benchmark price of ABS, according to SunSirs, was 8675.00 RMB/ton, a 5.15% increase compared to the beginning of the month (8250.00 RMB/ton).
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