Cooperation diversification strategy

SIBUR's sales of polymers to Asia-Pacific up 2.5-fold, with marked rise in yuan-denominated settlements by end of 2022.

Throughout 2022, SIBUR delivered a 2.5-fold rise in the sales of its polymers to Asia-Pacific while also securing a marked rise in yuan-denominated settlements with China, Sergey Komyshan, SIBUR’s Executive Director for Marketing and Sales, told Interfax.

He said that it was basic polymers and rubbers that saw the strongest uptick in sales.

The company plans to be selling a total of around 2 mt of petrochemical products in the Asian market. China traditionally accounts for some 80% of SIBUR’s export sales to the region, the executive said.

While in Q1 2022, Asia-Pacific received around 30 kt of products in monthly shipments, by the end of the year the figure rose to as much as 70–100 kt, with the share of payments in yuans varying by product type but the yuan still serving as the main currency in all settlements with China.

According to Komyshan, the company secured a “marked” increase in settlements in yuans, previously uncommon in transactions but now an increasingly popular option for SIBUR’s partners. He also said that Vietnam is another destination that SIBUR focuses on in its polymer shipments. “Vietnam is a friendly country with large population and booming processing and consumption. This is currently a location of choice for some of our customers to transfer their Chinese capacities to, so we are following both them and the demand we see build up there,” Komyshan said. “Exports to Asia in general delivered an increase sufficient to make up for the reduction in shipments to Europe, with Turkey as one notable exception. In Turkey, we have come to be one of the largest polymer suppliers and currently account for around one fifth of the market,” he added.