India-bound plastics bookings rose 65.0% year over year between 24 August and 18 October, from 38,293 TEU to 63,192 TEU in TradeView booking data. That headline number tracks closely with India's wider import bookings over the same eight weeks.

The more useful signal is in the mix. Two changes account for most of the shift: a concentrated rise in US vinyl polymer bookings, and Gulf polymer cargo moving from Abu Dhabi's Mina Khalifa to Oman's Salalah. Here is what the data shows, origin by origin.

Plastics grew roughly in step with India's wider bookings

All India-bound bookings rose 55.4% in the same window, so plastics outpaced the market by a modest margin. Plastics' share of India-bound TEU moved from 10.31% to 10.95%.

The gap holds when the most recent, still-maturing records are set aside. Through 8 October, plastics bookings rose 76.9% against 61.4% for all goods.

Share and volume tell different stories by origin. China's plastics bookings to India rose from 9,174 TEU to about 11,000 TEU, while its share of the category fell from 24.0% to 17.4%. Other origins simply grew faster.

US vinyl polymers drive the largest origin gain

The United States posted the biggest gain of any origin. US plastics bookings to India rose from 5,271 TEU to about 17,800 TEU, lifting the US share of the category from 13.8% to 28.2%.

That increase sits in two product groups. Vinyl chloride and other halogenated olefin polymers, the HS heading that covers PVC, account for 50.7% of the US gain. Ethylene polymers add another 19.3%.

It also sits with a small group of shippers. The two largest booking parties hold 41.6% of US plastics TEU and 95.0% of the vinyl chloride polymer heading. Confirmed bookings alone show the same pattern, rising from 3,686 TEU to 14,685 TEU.

Shintech, a subsidiary of Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical, operates one of the largest PVC complexes in the US at Plaquemine, Louisiana (Manufacturing Dive). Two of the five largest booking parties are NVOCCs, so a share of US volume sits with consolidators whose underlying cargo owners vary.

India remains a structural PVC importer, with domestic capacity of about 1.8 million tonnes a year against demand of about 4.7 million tonnes (Business Standard). Import policy has moved several times this year. India cut basic customs duty on PVC to nil from 2 April to 30 June 2026, then restricted suspension PVC imports priced at or below $766 per tonne from 24 July (ChemAnalyst).

How the Hormuz closure shows up in Gulf polymer bookings

UAE plastics bookings to India fell from 6,977 TEU to 2,530 TEU, while Oman's rose from 994 TEU to 3,853 TEU. Combined, the two fell 19.9%, so Oman's gain replaced about two thirds of the UAE decline.

The two moves involve different shippers. The Mina Khalifa decline is concentrated in Borouge-named entities. At Salalah, SABIC-named entities account for 3,106 of 3,384 TEU, up from 882 TEU a year earlier.

The timing lines up with the Strait of Hormuz disruption. Shipping through the strait has been largely blocked since 28 February 2026 (Wikipedia), and it remained effectively closed to commercial traffic as of 23 October (Straits.live). Mina Khalifa sits inside the Gulf. Salalah sits on the Arabian Sea, outside the strait.

Both producers have reported the impact. Borouge said its January to March sales volumes fell 13% year over year, partly because of the closure (Argus). Saudi Arabia has added Red Sea services that bypass the strait, including a Jeddah, Salalah and Djibouti route (Gulf News).

Vizion's booking data flagged this early. In March, plastics and polymer resins made up about 63% of Gulf container export bookings when export bookings collapsed as carriers paused Gulf departures. By July, Salalah had emerged as a rerouting hub while Gulf exports stayed stalled. For the latest read, see Gulf exports moving again with the strait still closed.

Why departure country and producer can differ

TradeView records origin as the country where cargo departs. When producers reroute, the departure country can change while the shipper stays the same.

Salalah shows this clearly. Saudi Arabia's recorded plastics bookings to India rose from 7,677 TEU to about 13,300 TEU, a share gain of 1.0 point. The 3,106 TEU booked by SABIC-named shippers out of Salalah count toward Oman.

For anyone tracking a supplier country, departure data alone can understate or overstate a producer's presence. Shipper-level detail closes that gap.

How TradeView sees this before it ships

Container bookings are placed weeks before cargo sails and well before customs records post. TradeView turns those bookings into forward trade data at the shipper level, by origin, destination, product and port.

That lead time is how shifts like US PVC into India or Gulf polymers moving to Salalah show up while they are still forming. Teams use it to spot supplier changes, size competitor volumes and watch rerouting as it happens.

About the data

Figures come from TradeView booking records with an India destination and booking dates from 24 August to 18 October in 2025 and 2026. They include all booking statuses and measure recorded booking TEU, which differs from sailed container volume. Origin means recorded departure country. Bookings from 9 October 2026 onward are still maturing.

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