Polycarbonate Resin (General, Optical & Flame-Retardant)

PC pellets by melt flow, light transmission and UL94 flame rating

Polycarbonate (HS 3907.40) is the clear, tough engineering thermoplastic behind lighting covers, automotive lenses, electrical enclosures, glazing sheet and medical housings. It is specified on melt flow at 300 °C under 1.2 kg, where precision moulding grades run about 7–15 g/10 min. Optical grades are bought on light transmission, about 88–90% under ASTM D1003, and on low haze and yellowness. Flame-retardant grades are bought on their UL94 rating and the thickness at which it holds, such as V-0 at 1.5 mm; V-0 means the specimen self-extinguishes within 10 seconds. Sheet, film and blending grades (PC/ABS) complete the range.

Food contact has changed. Polycarbonate is made from bisphenol A, and Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/3190, in force from 20 January 2025, bans BPA and its salts in the manufacture of food-contact plastics, coatings, inks, adhesives and rubber, with transitional periods to 20 July 2026 or 20 January 2028 depending on the use. Polycarbonate for food-contact articles sold into the EU is therefore not offered, and other destinations are checked against their own rules. China has applied anti-dumping measures to polycarbonate from Taiwan since 2023, with preliminary deposits of 16.9–22.4%.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 3907.40 put Korea at 0.69 million MT (USD 1,765 million), China at 0.49 million MT (USD 1,113 million), Thailand at 0.43 million MT (USD 873 million), the USA at 0.33 million MT (USD 1,012 million), Taiwan at 0.24 million MT, the Netherlands at 0.16 million MT and Japan at 0.11 million MT. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers polycarbonate from producer offtake traders and trader parcels against the producer's certificate of analysis, the UL file for flame-retardant grades and SGS or Intertek inspection where required, in 25 kg bags or octabins by the container on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, priced per grade against the ICIS and Platts engineering-plastics assessments. Send the grade, melt flow, rating, end use and destination, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.