I. Overview of China's EPS Raw Material Export Performance in 2025
In 2025, China's expandable polystyrene (EPS) export industry achieved a historic breakthrough, with both monthly and annual export volumes setting new records. This outstanding performance not only reflects the strong competitiveness of China's EPS Beads industry in the global market but also reveals the profound changes in the global supply and demand pattern of the expandable polystyrene industry.
Q4 Peak Season Culminates in a Blowout; Expanded Polystyrene Annual Exports Surpass 440,000 Tons
The export performance of China's EPS in December 2025 became the highlight of the whole year's trade. Customs statistics show that the monthly export volume reached 45,314.64 tons, a sharp increase of 86.91% year - on - year and a 7.11% month - on - month rise . This data not only refreshed the phased high but also made the annual export volume climb to 447,844.07 tons, a year - on - year growth of 36.95% .
In contrast, the import market presented a moderate trend. In December 2025, China's expandable polystyrene imports were 754.175 tons, a year - on - year increase of 6.42% and a month - on - month increase of 21.63%. However, the total annual imports in 2025 were 9,740.915 tons, a year - on - year decrease of 4.85% . This obvious differentiation between imports and exports fully reflects the strong supply capacity of China's EPS industry and its increasing competitiveness in the global market, while the domestic market's dependence on imported EPS raw material continues to decrease.
The strong export momentum was not concentrated only in the end of the year. As early as the second quarter, the export volume had shown a double year - on - year and month - on - month growth trend . From April to June, the cumulative export volume was 120,830 tons, a year - on - year increase of 26% and a month - on - month increase of 40% . In the first three quarters, the export volume maintained a steady growth. The export volume from January to September reached about 340,000 tons (estimated from the annual data), with an export value of 379 million US dollars, a year - on - year increase of 15.86% . Industry analysts pointed out that this continuous growth trend is the result of the resonance between the continuous release of overseas demand and the stable operation of the domestic industrial chain.
Southeast Asia Leads the Way; Vietnam, South Korea and Brazil Rank Top Three
Southeast Asia has become the core engine driving the growth of China's EPS raw material exports. In 2025, the export volume to the Southeast Asian market was about 120,000 tons, accounting for more than 26% of the total annual export volume . Among them, Vietnam is the key market of the Dalian - Ho Chi Minh / Haiphong trade route and has maintained the leading position in China's EPS export destinations for a long time . From January to September, the export value to Vietnam reached 54.52 million US dollars, far ahead of other countries and regions .
South Korea and Brazil ranked the second and third in China's EPS export list . From January to September, the export values to these two countries were 31.36 million US dollars and 29.89 million US dollars respectively . Notably, the export to South Korea showed a rising share trend in the second quarter. Its export volume in the second quarter accounted for a 3.82 percentage point increase compared with the first quarter . Brazil, as an important export destination in Latin America, has maintained a stable demand for Chinese EPS, and its export share has also increased slightly compared with the same period last year .
In addition to the top three markets, some emerging markets have also achieved remarkable growth. The export volume to Saudi Arabia increased by 47.9% year - on - year in the first three quarters . This is mainly due to the intensive start of refining and chemical and infrastructure projects driven by Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030", which has greatly increased the demand for EPS in the construction and packaging fields . At the same time, the deepening cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia under the framework of the "the Belt and Road" Initiative has also created favorable conditions for the smooth flow of EPS trade . By the end of September 2025, China's EPS had been exported to 106 countries and regions, an increase of 5 over the same period in 2024, showing an increasingly diversified export pattern .
Cost Advantage and Policy Bonus; Decoding the Driving Forces Behind the Export Boom
The explosive growth of China's EPS beads exports cannot be separated from the dual driving of cost advantages and external demand. In 2025, the price of styrene, the core raw material of EPS in China, remained stable and low, while the price of styrene in Europe remained high, which significantly pushed up the local EPS production costs . This huge cost gap makes Chinese EPS products have obvious price competitiveness in the international market.
Moreover, the domestic EPS raw material industry inventory was at a five - year high in 2025 . In order to speed up capital turnover, many enterprises adopted a strategy of exchanging price for quantity, which further reduced the overall export average price . Data show that from January to September, the average export price of China's EPS was 1.16 US dollars per kilogram, a year - on - year decrease of 10.42% . This price advantage has become a key factor for Chinese products to win orders in the global market, especially in emerging markets sensitive to price.
