WASHINGTON - Plastics and their precursors make up nearly 37 percent of the $50.7 billion in chemical exports from the United States to the rest of the world, with the largest single portion - about $5 billion - made up of petrochemicals, intermediates and resins, according to Department of Commerce figures. In general, the latest figures of the Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Division of the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration show that the United States will export $12.1 billion worth of plastic resins and their precursors in 1994; it will import roughly $5.7 billion worth, providing a net positive balance of $6.4 billion.
Assumptions of similar increases in poundage are not possible, given that price hikes for plastics and their precursors could cause the change in dollar figures to be more dramatic than actual poundage increases.
Commerce Department figures also show that the compound annual growth rate of domestic exports of plastics has risen 6.47 percent from 1989 to September 1994, the month through which the figures are calculated.
