Demands in Chinese soda market was sluggish in 2012, which led to constant downside tendency of prices throughout the year. By the end of the year, with disturbances in international market trading, there was a drastic increase in the soda import volume in November, including export from the U.S. increased by over 1000 percents as compared to the same period of last year. This further depressed the domestic soda market and disturbed the market mentality.
According to the customs, the import of soda into China was 29,200 tons in November 2012, which was a 24539.4% increase from 118.6 tons of the last month, and a 1367.3% increase from 1,990 tons of the same period of last year, the highest in recent years. Among them, soda import from the U.S. was 29166.011 tons in November, accounting for 99.84% of the total import volume. It can therefore be concluded that the massive import of natural base from the U.S. was the major contributor to the drastic import increase in November.
A net-exporter of soda though China is, the supplies of low-price U.S. products inevitably interfered with the mentality of domestic corporations, which was the most evident with the East and Central Chinese manufacturers and traders. Such disturbance of market mentality led to further price disturbance. As the result of cold weather across China and the stock-up mentality toward the Spring Festival among the down-stream traders, the current soda prices are approaching the cost line. The rigid demand of January could have been a favorable turn for the ever-sluggish market; however transient recovery has not been seen in the market: the impact of the U.S. supplies has evidently become a major contributor to the disturbed market mentality.
