2026 Top 100 Importers & Exporters

With Middle East supplies largely cut off, North American petrochemical plants are exceeding 90 % utilization. Shutterstock. com

“ If the carrier says it costs them‘ X,’ how do we get to the point of substantiation? This will be an ongoing conversation between shippers and carriers,” he said.

For their part, carriers are attempting to mitigate the impact of rising bunker fuel costs through more direct sailings and slower steaming of vessels.

At the Port of Oakland, which handles agricultural exports from California’ s Central Valley,“ carriers are asking the terminals to work 24 / 7, so they spend less time in port,” said Bryan Brandes, the port’ s maritime director.

Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition( AgTC), noted that the impact of those fees will intensify the longer the war drags on.

“ Generally, costs are going up and will continue to go up until there is an end to the war,” Friedmann told the Journal of Commerce.“ The fuel surcharges will have a cascading effect on ag shippers’ costs as they are phased in.”

And although the US itself is a large producer of fertilizers, growers could also face higher costs for fertilizers if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for too long, with crops that consume large quantities of ammonia and phosphates particularly vulnerable.

Piling on the pressure

The additional costs for shippers— and resulting drag on demand abroad— come at a time when export growth

War-driven supply squeeze could boost US resin export growth

By Michael Angell

Following strong growth in 2025, US resin exports could see a repeat due to the global supply squeeze created by the war with Iran. But the degree of growth in 2026 will depend on how quickly new US supply can come online and whether surging resin prices will ultimately cause consumers to pull back.

Outbound shipments of polyethylene and polypropylene, which account for over half of US chemicals exports, grew 10.7 % to 1.23 million TEUs in 2025, according to PIERS, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global. Last year’ s growth was the strongest since 2023, when import container demand returned to normal and allowed more space for exporters.

China last year again received the largest share of overall US chemicals exports for any single country, but at 11.2 %, it was down from 14.3 % in 2024 and the lowest share since before the COVID-19 pandemic, PIERS data showed. Brazil was next at 8 %, down marginally from the year prior.

Terry Glass, vice president at commodities price reporting agency Argus, said new supply coming online last year fueled 2025 growth. Dow Chemical opened its latest resins

Chemicals

EXPORTS

1,961,807 TEUS

↑8.1 %

Change from 2024

↑1.9 %

5-year compound annual growth rate

China buying smaller share of growing chemical exports

Percentage share of US chemical product and plastic resin exports by destination

TEU market share

100 %

80 %

100 60 %

44 % 40 %

20 %

0 % L 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Source: PIERS, S & P Global production line at its Freeport, Texas, plant, capable of producing enough polyethylene to fill 26,000 TEUs per year.

After its first production line was completed in 2022, Shell now has three production lines operating at its Monaca plant in Pennsylvania, Glass said. The plant, largely dependent on export markets, can turn out enough resins to fill about 31,000 TEUs annually.

The new supply lowered margins on resin, causing producers to lower plant utilization to about 80 % toward the end of 2025, Glass said. Producers also typically decrease production ahead of planned maintenance, which generally takes place during the first quarter.

However, war in the Middle East has scrambled that plan. Since the end of February, polyethylene prices have

China Belgium Brazil Turkey India Other

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42 Journal of Commerce | May 4, 2026 www. joc. com