Is rPET chip treated as plastic waste at the Turkish border?

No. Extruded and filtered chip is polyethylene terephthalate in primary form under HS 3907, 390761 at a viscosity number of 78 ml/g or more and 390769 below it, and it clears as a raw material. Plastic waste, meaning bales, flakes and regrind under HS 3915, is a separate controlled regime in Turkey with licensed importers, capacity limits and MoTAT tracking, and the current status for PET waste should be verified against the importer's licence. CBIL brokers chip on this page; flake and bale enquiries are screened separately.

What IV does a Turkish spinner need, and who can use 0.55 chip?

Polyester staple spinning generally wants IV above about 0.60 dL/g and filament higher and tighter. Textile-derived chip comes out at about 0.50 to 0.58 and coloured bottle chip a little above that. A mill with solid-state polycondensation or a melt-phase IV boost on the extruder can take low-IV chip as its feed; a plain staple line takes it as a blend share with higher-IV flake or chip. Tell us which you are, because it decides the grade we offer.

Where does Turkey buy its chip today?

Mostly from Asia. In 2025 China supplied 79% of Turkey's 189,200 t of HS 390761 imports and, with Malaysia, 63% of the 99,443 t under HS 390769; Germany was the largest European origin on the lower-viscosity line at 3,072 t. Those codes mix virgin and recycled, so they show the lane, not the rPET share. A UK or EU recycler competes on a shorter transit, a European GRS chain of custody and a textile-to-textile claim that bottle chip from Asia cannot make.

Which port should a buyer name?

The one nearest the mill. Gemlik serves Bursa, Izmir the Aegean spinners, and Mersin the Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Adana cluster. Chip moves in one-tonne big bags or octabins at about 20 to 24 t per 40 ft container on liner bookings, so the port decides the inland leg and the buyer's clearance agent, not the ship. A first order is usually one or two containers against a 25 kg sample and a spinning trial.

Europe · Turkey

rPET Chip for Polyester Fibre Spinners in Turkey

Europe's largest polyester spinning base, buying chip by the container from China, Malaysia and, increasingly, Europe

Turkey's polyester industry is clustered: filament and texturising around Bursa, staple fibre and yarn around Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş, and the country's largest polyester producer at Adana, with Uşak and Ceyhan behind them, in a yarn sector that exported about USD 3.2 billion in 2023 and runs more than 1.2 million spindles. That base buys chip in two customs codes. HS 390761, PET with a viscosity number of 78 ml/g or more, is bottle and high-IV resin: Turkey imported 189,200 t in 2025, up from 118,110 t in 2024, and 148,801 t of it (79%) came from China, then Egypt (18,820 t) and Malaysia (5,822 t). HS 390769, PET below 78 ml/g, is the fibre-grade and recycled chip line: 99,443 t in 2025 (2024: 88,161 t), led by China (32,366 t), Malaysia (30,221 t), India (8,702 t), Algeria (6,357 t), Nigeria (4,240 t), Thailand (4,034 t) and Germany (3,072 t). Both codes cover virgin and recycled PET together. A spinner buys low-IV chip for two reasons. Dark and coloured chip from textile and mixed-bottle streams goes into black and dark dope-dyed staple fibre for automotive felts, insulation, geotextile and fibrefill, where colour is no penalty and the chip is blended or upgraded on site. Textile-derived chip with a GRS or RCS transaction certificate goes into yarn a clothing brand has nominated for a textile-to-textile claim, which bottle chip cannot carry. Textile-derived chip comes out at about 0.50 to 0.58 dL/g, coloured bottle chip a little higher, and staple spinning generally wants IV above about 0.60, so the buyer either has solid-state polycondensation or a melt-phase IV boost, or takes the chip as a blend share.

The border treats pellet and waste differently. Extruded, filtered chip is polymer in primary form under HS 3907 and clears as a raw material. Plastic waste is another regime: Turkey announced a ban on imports of polyethylene waste on 18 May 2021, reversed it on 10 July 2021 into a controlled-import system in which a licensed recycler may import only a share of its own extrusion capacity, with shipments tracked in the MoTAT system from port to plant; the current position on PET waste imports is VERIFY with the importer's licence before any flake or bale is offered. This page is about chip, not flake. CBIL brokers textile-derived and low-IV rPET chip from recyclers in the UK and the EU, in one-tonne big bags or octabins at about 20 to 24 t per 40 ft container, into Gemlik for Bursa, Izmir for the Aegean mills and Mersin for Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Adana, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, against the recycler's certificate of analysis per lot showing IV, L* and b* colour, water content and melting point, the GRS or RCS transaction certificate, photographs and a 25 kg sample. Excluded origins are not offered. A requirement that names the spinner, the discharge port, the IV band and colour, whether SSP is on site, the monthly tonnage and the certificate required gets an offer from a specific recycler; one without them gets a question first.

The market in figures

Imports, HS 390761 (IV ≥ 78 ml/g), 2025: 189,200 t (2024: 118,110 t) · China 79% · Egypt 10% · Malaysia 3% (virgin and recycled together)
Imports, HS 390769 (IV < 78 ml/g), 2025: 99,443 t (2024: 88,161 t) · China 33% · Malaysia 30% · India 9% · Germany 3%
Spinning clusters: Bursa (filament), Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş (staple and yarn), Adana, Uşak, Ceyhan
Discharge ports: Gemlik for Bursa · Izmir for the Aegean · Mersin for the south-east
Lot and pack: 1 t big bags or octabins, about 20–24 t per 40 ft; IV 0.50–0.65 dL/g; GRS or RCS transaction certificate per shipment

Official trade data; sources listed below. Landed values are the importing country's declared CIF, not CBIL prices.

Questions buyers ask

Is rPET chip treated as plastic waste at the Turkish border?: No. Extruded and filtered chip is polyethylene terephthalate in primary form under HS 3907, 390761 at a viscosity number of 78 ml/g or more and 390769 below it, and it clears as a raw material. Plastic waste, meaning bales, flakes and regrind under HS 3915, is a separate controlled regime in Turkey with licensed importers, capacity limits and MoTAT tracking, and the current status for PET waste should be verified against the importer's licence. CBIL brokers chip on this page; flake and bale enquiries are screened separately.
What IV does a Turkish spinner need, and who can use 0.55 chip?: Polyester staple spinning generally wants IV above about 0.60 dL/g and filament higher and tighter. Textile-derived chip comes out at about 0.50 to 0.58 and coloured bottle chip a little above that. A mill with solid-state polycondensation or a melt-phase IV boost on the extruder can take low-IV chip as its feed; a plain staple line takes it as a blend share with higher-IV flake or chip. Tell us which you are, because it decides the grade we offer.
Where does Turkey buy its chip today?: Mostly from Asia. In 2025 China supplied 79% of Turkey's 189,200 t of HS 390761 imports and, with Malaysia, 63% of the 99,443 t under HS 390769; Germany was the largest European origin on the lower-viscosity line at 3,072 t. Those codes mix virgin and recycled, so they show the lane, not the rPET share. A UK or EU recycler competes on a shorter transit, a European GRS chain of custody and a textile-to-textile claim that bottle chip from Asia cannot make.
Which port should a buyer name?: The one nearest the mill. Gemlik serves Bursa, Izmir the Aegean spinners, and Mersin the Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Adana cluster. Chip moves in one-tonne big bags or octabins at about 20 to 24 t per 40 ft container on liner bookings, so the port decides the inland leg and the buyer's clearance agent, not the ship. A first order is usually one or two containers against a 25 kg sample and a spinning trial.

Sources

UN Comtrade public preview API, reporter Türkiye (792), HS 390761, imports, read 27 Sep 2026: 2025 world 189,200 t; China 148,801 t; Egypt 18,820 t; Malaysia 5,822 t; Nigeria 3,030 t; India 2,605 t. 2024 world 118,110 t; China 90,631 t; Malaysia 8,365 t.
UN Comtrade public preview API, reporter Türkiye (792), HS 390769, imports: 2025 world 99,443 t; China 32,366 t; Malaysia 30,221 t; India 8,702 t; Algeria 6,357 t; Nigeria 4,240 t; Thailand 4,034 t; Germany 3,072 t. 2024 world 88,161 t; China 41,602 t; Malaysia 20,423 t; India 6,673 t. Both codes cover virgin and recycled PET together; combined 2025 total 288,643 t.
Kohan Textile Journal, 'Top 10 yarn producers in Turkey' (read 27 Sep 2026): production centres named at Kahramanmaraş, Bursa (Demirtaş zone), Gaziantep, Uşak, Ceyhan and Adana; yarn exports about USD 3.2 billion in 2023; more than 1.2 million spindles.
EUWID Recycling, 'Turkey bans import of polyethylene waste' (read 27 Sep 2026): Ministry of Trade notice of 18 May 2021 adding waste, parings and scrap of ethylene (3915.10) to the banned list; Turkey was the largest single destination for EU plastic waste exports in 2020 (Eurostat).
Resource Recycling, 'Turkey reverses ban on scrap plastic imports', 14 Jul 2021 (read 27 Sep 2026): Official Gazette notice of 10 July 2021 moving scrap PE from banned to controlled; import limited to a share of a recycler's extrusion capacity; MoTAT chip-based tracking from port to factory; review of licences of more than 1,300 recyclers. Current PET waste status: VERIFY.
IV bands, colour behaviour, SSP and the spinning floor of about 0.60 dL/g: CBIL product page for textile-derived and low-IV rPET chip and the desk's fibre-route research of 24 Sep 2026 (PMC review on textile polyester IV).
Container payload of about 20-24 t of chip in 1 t big bags per 40 ft: standard recycler loading practice, desk file 24 Sep 2026.