Will China PP Export Trade Vary After India’s BIS certification Cancelled?
Introduction: The cancellation of India’s BIS certification, coupled with the increasingly complex international landscape, may lead to the introduction of other trade protection policies that could impact export trade. As a result, China’s PP exports continue to face numerous obstacles and challenges, with lingering uncertainties in the export market.
On February 27, 2024, the Indian Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) officially issued a Quality Control Order related to three categories of chemicals, which include molded and extruded polypropylene (PP) materials. It was required that such products exported to India must undergo BIS certification starting from August 25, 2024. As the implementation date approached, Indian authorities announced on the evening of August 23, 2024 that the BIS certification for PP would be postponed and would take effect on December 24, 2024. On November 12, 2025, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers of the Government of India issued a notification in the Gazette of India, announcing that India will cancel the BIS certification for 14 chemicals including PVC, starting from November 12, 2025. This decision aims to simplify market access, based on a re-evaluation of industrial needs and public interests. The cancellation of this trade policy is supposed to alleviate some of the trade barriers currently faced by China’s PP industry.
The BIS certification mark is granted by the Bureau of Indian Standards and refers to the process of testing and reviewing products in accordance with Indian BIS standards to obtain a certificate of conformity. The molded and extruded PP materials covered by this certification mainly include homopolymer PP products, and the following analysis will focus on this category.
India ranks among the top export destinations in South Asia and is a mainstream export flow region.
From 2021 to 2025, China’s PP export market transitioned from steady growth to rapid expansion. In the first nine months of 2025, China’s PP export volume reached 2.3409 million mt, a year-on-year increase of 28.26%. This growth is primarily driven by the fact that China’s PP industry remains in a peak period of capacity expansion, with annual new capacity leading global growth. However, the slowdown in domestic demand growth leads to persistent oversupply pressure in the domestic market. This accelerates China’s transition into a net exporter of PP. Periodic external market opportunities and arbitrage windows have stabilized overseas customer channels and trade flows, while India, where supply falls short of demand, has become a major trading destination for China’s exports.
India has consistently been an important export trade partner for China in South Asia. Its large population base and abundant labor force have gradually attracted manufacturers to set up local factories, driving India’s rapid development. However, lagging domestic capacity growth has provided a stable market space for Chinese exports. As China’s PP prices remain at low levels for an extended period, export windows have opened multiple times. Coupled with slowing domestic demand growth, suppliers have shown a strong willingness to export, actively exploring overseas markets with more competitive prices. In recent years, the export trade volume to India has accounted for one-third of China’s total exports to South Asia.
However, the export market also faces short-term challenges. India frequently imposes trade barriers such as anti-dumping investigations, which periodically impact export volumes. Meanwhile, competition from low-priced resources in the Middle East is intensifying, further exacerbating competition in the PP export market.
India’s BIS certification was cancelled, and China’s PP annual exports were dominated by periodic market trends.
Although India issued quality control requirements for molded and extruded PP materials at the beginning of the year, progress in certification has been limited due to policy adjustment uncertainties and unclear implementation details. As of now, no company has completed this certification. The direct cancellation of the BIS certification has now dispelled earlier market concerns that its implementation would negatively impact domestic PP market sentiment.
The cancellation of the BIS certification has alleviated some worries, but it has provided a limited boost to export market sentiment. As the international situation is increasingly complex, other trade protection policies may successively emerge, affecting export trade. Therefore, China’s PP exports still face multiple obstacles and challenges. To proactively seek breakthroughs amid the uncertainty, it is crucial to seize opportunities within the export environment, actively pursue innovation and development, adjust and upgrade the product structure, explore and expand into other international markets, and seek broader export opportunities.
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