In June 2026, China's polypropylene market found itself caught between two opposing currents — exports falling sharply by nearly a quarter while imports quietly rose, a configuration that speaks to the broader fragility of global industrial demand. The plastic resin that quietly underpins modern manufacturing, from food packaging to car interiors, is now moving in smaller volumes across borders, suggesting that somewhere in the chain of global production, appetite has cooled. Futures traders in Dalian register cautious optimism, but the underlying arithmetic of supply and demand offers a more