The Indian government may extend a waiver granted to petrochemical imports beyond its present deadline of 30 June if supply disruptions related to the Iran war persist, a senior government official said earlier this week.
New Delhi is watching the developments in the Middle East closely and is open to extending the temporary relief beyond the current deadline, said deputy director of India's commerce department Ravi Teja at a press conference on 9 June.
India waived off import duties on 40 petrochemical products from April, including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to negate the impact of additional costs to domestic industries.
Some plastic converters have urged the government to extend the duty waiver until 30 September. Industry participants anticipate a final decision on the potential extension in the coming weeks.
Indian PE importers have slowed purchases due to the uncertainty hanging over the deadline and are waiting for further guidance from the government. There was a similar slowdown to PVC import flows for most of the late second quarter, primarily because of higher domestic resin inventories and the beginning of the monsoon season.
Low domestic supplies
The cut in import duties, as well as improved resin supplies, led to a moderation in polymer prices compared with the initial days of the conflict.
Argus assessed linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE) prices at $1,250-1,330/t cfr India for the week to 5 June, compared with $1,430-1,500/t cfr India on 10 April. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) prices were assessed at $1,500-1,600/t cfr India for the week ended on 5 June, down from $1,700-1,800/t cfr India on 10 April. Suspension PVC (s-PVC) prices were assessed at $800-850/t cfr India on 5 June, down from $950-1,020/t cfr on 10 April.
An extension could lead to a similar decline in prices, former president of the All-India Plastic Manufacturers Association Haren Sanghavi told Argus. But he added that the manufacturing industry remains concerned about domestic supplies and imports alone will not be sufficient to meet demand.
Domestic production of some petrochemicals has remained affected by feedstock constraints. Many Indian PVC producers are reliant on feedstock ethylene dichloride (EDC) and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) imports, with the Middle East accounting for over 50pc of total EDC imports into India back in 2025.
Indian producers have either had to take alternative supplies since the beginning of the US-Iran war or scale production accordingly, with concerns emerging in the market over the reliability of domestic production should the war continue, and Middle Eastern EDC supplies remaining inaccessible to the Indian market.
