How will RCEP deal impact polyolefins trade in Asia Pacific?

The establishment of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will encompass a population of 2.27 billion with GDP of US$26 trillion. The partnership will improve regional supply chain connectivity to resist deglobalisation and will ease the movement of goods and currency to enhance the regional comparative advantage. The 15 partners within this region have imported 26.8 million tons of polyethylene and 10.6 million tons of polypropylene in 2020. We expect the RCEP agreement will benefit producers within this region, but they will not able to compete with the cost disadvantage of producers from North America and Middle East. But what we can expect is the rising competitiveness of plastic end products within the region will strengthen both exports and domestic consumption, stimulating demand for polyolefins resin.