The 2011 Import and Export
Market for Polystyrene in
Primary Forms in Hong Kong
By
Professor Philip M. Parker, Ph. D.
Chaired Professor of Management Science
INSEAD (Singapore & Fontainebleau, France)
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About the Author
Dr. Philip M. Parker is the Eli Lilly Chaired Professor of Innovation, Business and Society at
INSEAD where he has taught courses on multivariate statistics and global competitive strategy
since 1988. He has also taught courses at MIT, Stanford University, Harvard University, UCLA,
UCSD, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is the author of six books
on the economic convergence of nations. These books introduce the notion of “physioeconomics”
which foresees a lack of global convergence in economic behaviors due to physiological and
physiographic forces. His latest book is "Physioeconomics: The Basis for Long-Run Economic
Growth" (MIT Press 2000). He has also published numerous articles in academic journals,
including The Rand Journal of Economics, Marketing Science, the Journal of International
Business Studies, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, International Journal of
Forecasting, the European Management Journal, the European Journal of Operational
Research, Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and Journal of
Marketing Research. He is also on the editorial boards of several academic journals.
Dr. Parker received his Ph.D. in Business Economics from the Wharton School of the University
of Pennsylvania and has Masters degrees in Finance and Banking (University of Aix-Marseille)
and Managerial Economics (Wharton). His undergraduate degrees are in mathematics, biology
and economics (minor in aeronautical engineering). He has consulted and/or taught courses in
Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe.
About this Series
This series was created for international firms who rely on foreign export markets for a
substantial portion of their business or who might be threatened by foreign trade competition.
The estimates given in this report were created using a methodology developed by and under the
direct supervision of Professor Philip M. Parker, the Eli Lilly Chaired Professor of Innovation,
Business and Society, at INSEAD. The methodology, relying on historical figures of economic
growth and trade flows, estimates the market shares of some 150 countries for over 500 industrial
or product categories. The figures should be seen as market estimates, as opposed to historical
records, as these are projected for the current year of trade.
Acknowledgements
Some of the methodologies and research approaches used in this report have benefited from the
R&D Committee at INSEAD, whose research support is gratefully acknowledged. Additional
editorial assistance from Tiffany LaRochelle, ICON Group International, Inc., is also
acknowledged.
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Contents v
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY 7
2 HONG KONG AND THE WORLD MARKET 9
2.1 Imports in Hong Kong in 2011 9
2.2 Exports from Hong Kong in 2011 10
3 IMPORTS IN HONG KONG 11
3.1 Africa 11
3.1.1 South Africa 11
3.2 Asia 12
3.2.1 China 12
3.2.2 India 13
3.2.3 Indonesia 14
3.2.4 Japan 15
3.2.5 Macau 16
3.2.6 Malaysia 17
3.2.7 Philippines 18
3.2.8 Singapore 19
3.2.9 South Korea 20
3.2.10 Taiwan 21
3.2.11 Thailand 22
3.2.12 Vietnam 22
3.3 Europe 23
3.3.1 Austria 23
3.3.2 Belgium 24
3.3.3 Denmark 25
3.3.4 Spain 26
3.3.5 Switzerland 27
3.3.6 the Netherlands 28
3.3.7 the United Kingdom 29
3.4 Latin America 30
3.4.1 Brazil 30
3.4.2 Mexico 31
3.5 North America & the Caribbean 32
3.5.1 Canada 32
3.5.2 the United States 33
3.6 Oceana 34
3.6.1 Australia 34
3.7 the Middle East 34
3.7.1 Iran 34
3.7.2 Saudi Arabia 35
4 EXPORTS FROM HONG KONG 36
4.1 Africa 36
4.1.1 South Africa 36
4.2 Asia 37
4.2.1 China 37
4.2.2 India 38
4.2.3 Indonesia 39
4.2.4 Japan 40
4.2.5 Malaysia 41
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Contents vi
4.2.6 Philippines 42
4.2.7 Singapore 43
4.2.8 Taiwan 44
4.2.9 Thailand 45
4.3 North America & the Caribbean 46
4.3.1 Canada 46
4.3.2 the United States 47
4.4 Oceana 48
4.4.1 Australia 48
4.4.2 New Zealand 49
4.5 the Middle East 50
4.5.1 Israel 50
4.5.2 Pakistan 51
5 DISCLAIMERS, WARRANTEES, AND USER AGREEMENT PROVISIONS 52
5.1 Disclaimers & Safe Harbor 52
5.2 ICON Group Ltd. User Agreement Provisions 53
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Polystyrene in Primary Forms in Hong Kong 7
1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
On the demand side, exporters and strategic planners focusing on polystyrene in primary forms in
Hong Kong face a number of questions. Which countries are supplying polystyrene in primary
forms to Hong Kong? How important is Hong Kong compared to others in terms of the entire
global and regional market? How much do the imports of polystyrene in primary forms vary
from one country of origin to another in Hong Kong? On the supply side, Hong Kong also
exports polystyrene in primary forms. Which countries receive the most exports from Hong
Kong? How are these exports concentrated across buyers? What is the value of these exports
and which countries are the largest buyers?
This report was created for strategic planners, international marketing executives and
import/export managers who are concerned with the market for polystyrene in primary forms in
Hong Kong. With the globalization of this market, managers can no longer be contented with a
local view. Nor can managers be contented with out-of-date statistics which appear several years
after the fact. I have developed a methodology, based on macroeconomic and trade models, to
estimate the market for polystyrene in primary forms for those countries serving Hong Kong via
exports, or supplying from Hong Kong via imports. It does so for the current year based on a
variety of key historical indicators and econometric models.
In what follows, Chapter 2 begins by summarizing where Hong Kong fits into the world market
for imported and exported polystyrene in primary forms. The total level of imports and exports
on a worldwide basis, and those for Hong Kong in particular, is estimated using a model which
aggregates across over 150 key country markets and projects these to the current year. From
there, each country represents a percent of the world market. This market is served from a
number of competitive countries of origin. Based on both demand- and supply-side dynamics,
market shares by country of origin are then calculated across each country market destination.
These shares lead to a volume of import and export values for each country and are aggregated to
regional and world totals. In doing so, we are able to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of
both the value of each market and the share that Hong Kong is likely to receive this year. From
these figures, rankings are calculated to allow managers to prioritize Hong Kong compared to
other major country markets. In this way, all the figures provided in this report are forecasts that
can be combined with internal information sources for strategic planning purposes.
After the worldwide summary in Chapter 2 of both imports and exports of polystyrene in primary
forms, Chapter 3 goes into detail on imports, but for each major country of origin serving Hong
Kong. A “major” market is defined as a country where Hong Kong represents a substantially
large share of either imports or exports. For each major country exporting to Hong Kong, one
can thus observe how important Hong Kong is to that exporting country compared to other
countries of the world. Chapter 4 does the same, but for exports of polystyrene in primary forms
originating from Hong Kong, for each major country of destination. In doing so, one can
discover the share that Hong Kong has in each major market; this share value is often used as a
measure of competitiveness for Hong Kong. In all cases, the total dollar volume and percentage
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Polystyrene in Primary Forms in Hong Kong 8
share values by major trading partner are provided. Combined, Chapters 3 and 4 present a the
total picture for imports and exports of polystyrene in primary forms to and from Hong Kong to
and from all other major countries in the world. "Polystyrene in Primary Forms" as a category is
defined in this report following the definition given by the United Nations Statistics Division
Classification Registry using the Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 3 (SITC,
Rev. 3). The SITC code that defined "polystyrene in primary forms" is 5721 . For more
information on this definition, please refer to the following web site:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcs.asp?Cl=14&Lg=1&Co=572 .
This report is updated on an annual basis. To ensure that you have the most current version,
please check the web site of ICON Group at www.icongrouponline.com.
Important Caveat. The figures should be seen as market estimates, as opposed to historical
records, as these are forecasted for the current year of trade. More importantly, in light of the fact
that unforeseeable factors might interrupt markets in achieving their reported levels, the figures
should be seen as estimates of potential. For example, "mad cow" disease, foot-and-mouth
disease, trade embargoes, military conflicts, acts of terrorism and other events will certainly
affect the actual trade flows recorded for a variety of industry or product categories. In such
cases, the difference between the numbers given in this report and the numbers actually observed
might be interpreted as the "net loss" or "net gain" due to these exogenous events affecting
regular trade flows that would have occurred had these events not have taken place.
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Polystyrene in Primary Forms in Hong Kong 9
2 HONG KONG AND THE WORLD MARKET
2.1 IMPORTS IN HONG KONG IN 2011
Imported Polystyrene in Primary Forms in Hong Kong, 2011
(Structure of Foreign Import Competition)
Country of Origin Rank Value (000 US$) % Share Cumulative %
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Taiwan 1 337,677 32.88 32.88
Thailand 2 195,340 19.02 51.91
South Korea 3 133,303 12.98 64.89
China 4 88,212 8.59 73.48
Singapore 5 76,068 7.41 80.89
Japan 6 70,679 6.88 87.77
Malaysia 7 54,709 5.33 93.10
India 8 37,848 3.69 96.78
the United States 9 10,779 1.05 97.83
Belgium 10 5,840 0.57 98.40
the United Kingdom 11 4,844 0.47 98.87
Philippines 12 2,287 0.22 99.10
Iran 13 2,015 0.20 99.29
Germany 14 1,979 0.19 99.49
the Netherlands 15 1,343 0.13 99.62
Brazil 16 1,039 0.10 99.72
Spain 17 691 0.07 99.78
Australia 18 560 0.05 99.84
Canada 19 455 0.04 99.88
Saudi Arabia 20 335 0.03 99.92
Mexico 21 217 0.02 99.94
South Africa 22 204 0.02 99.96
Switzerland 23 180 0.02 99.97
France 24 77