China

Orlando—Mike Biddle, founder and president of post-consumer plastics recycler MBA Polymers (Richmond, CA), offered details on his company's plans to double its capacity in the next year, as well as its intention to add recycled polycarbonate (PC) and PC/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) blends to its offerings. The company's new facility in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England will begin operations this year with annual recycling capacity of 60,000 tons/yr, before expanding to 80,000 tons/yr in a year and a half.

What a loaded question that is, sure to get a rise out of manufacturers around the world. The answer seems to be a resounding "Yes" unless you work for the Chinese government, which in all fairness is doing a bang-up job of protecting its domestic industries' growth export opportunities, or you work for the U.S. Treasury Department.

Polyethylene (PE) spot prices rallied $0.005-$0.01/lb last week and overall spot supplies remain limited. Michael Greenberg, CEO of plastics spot-trading platform The Plastics Exchange (TPE), said producers successfully implemented a $0.08/lb price increase onto February contracts, and with ethylene monomer costs continuing to rise, they now have their sights set on enforcing a $0.06/lb increase for March. No respite in April, with a $0.05/lb increase announced.

The amount of post-consumer non-bottle rigid plastics collected for recycling in 2008 was up nearly 11% from 2007. The report, prepared by Moore Recycling Assoc. Inc. and released on March 3 by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), found that 361 million lb of post-consumer non-bottle rigid plastics were collected in 2008, with "much" of the recycled material used to manufacture new products, such as pallets, crates, composite lumber, and gardening items.

Just as Europe and North America have been forced to grapple with the new supply realities of the Middle East and China's rapid polyolefin supply buildout, Japan's petrochemical industry is also coping with wholly new trade dynamics. Tetsu Wakabayashi, president of Sumitomo Chemical America, told attendees of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) International Polyolefins Conference (Feb.

Husky Injection Molding Systems (Bolton, ON) finished 2009 with a 19% decline in revenues, watching sales fall from $1.2 billion in 2008 to approximately $1 billion last year. According to the financial filings by the company's private equity owner, Onex Corp. (Toronto), revenues were down in all regions, except Latin America, where they rose 13%. Elsewhere, Asia (-3%), North America (-23%), and Europe (-31%) all experienced declines.

As Chinaplas opens in Shanghai this April, China will more than likely be celebrating its impending emergence as the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, expecting to have edged slightly ahead of Japan when the final 2009 GDP numbers come in.

Houston, TX—Massive amounts of new capacity hitting the market at a time when demand for basic plastics and chemicals actually contracted on a year-over-year basis likely mean that pricing power will not return to resin producers until 2013. Gary Adams, president of industry consultant Chemical Market Associates Inc. (CMAI; Houston), delivered that viewpoint during his keynote address to the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) 2010 International Polyolefins Conference (Feb. 21-24; Houston).

Sinoven Biopolymers (Philadelphia) and its proprietary technology for modifying polybutylene succinate (PBS) has been acquired by renewable chemical manufacturer DNP Green Technology (Princeton, NJ), in a bid by that company to "move down the value chain." Jean-Francois Huc, president of DNP Green Technology, said, "With the acquisition of Sinoven, DNP Green can now transform corn and other crops into a diverse range of renewable, biodegradable products, from coffee cup lids and disposable razors to automotive parts."

One reason so many molders and moldmakers want to get into the medical industry is the perception that it’s the one industry that will never go offshore. Yet the medical industry in China represents a huge opportunity for U.S. device OEMs. Some have been there, tried it, and came back. Others still believe in a China solution to their manufacturing needs.