|
Breaking News - What goes up ... is coming down
hard. Commodity resin prices continue to take historic
plunges in North America, with prices for PE, PP
and PET resin sliding further since Nov. 1. Average
per-pound selling prices for PP have swooned a breathtaking
30 cents since that point. All grades of high, low
and linear low density PE are down 15 cents and
PET bottle resin has dropped another 12.
Trade Reporter November 2008
BASF takes drastic action and shuts 80 plants. BASF
is shutting 80 plants worldwide and reducing production
at 100 more facilities in a huge effort to address
the decline in demand for its polymer and chemical
products. The German giant announced this morning
that 20,000 of its 95,000 employees would be affected
by the production cuts. "We already drew attention
to the difficult economic situation at the end of
October. Since then, customer demand in key markets
has declined significantly," said Dr Jurgen Hambrecht,
chairman of the board of executive directors at
BASF. "In particular, customers in the automotive
industry have canceled orders at short notice."
The business units that are primarily affected are
those that supply the automotive, construction and
textile industries. These include the ammonia, styrene
and polyamide businesses which manufacture precursors
for engineering plastics, coatings and fibres. BASF's
move follows similar cutbacks by other polymer producers
this month, including LyondellBasell and Ineos,
which have also blamed a sudden fall in demand for
their products.
Trade Reports November 2008
MOST POPULAR
MOST VISITED THIS WEEK
|
Packaging slump may extend well into ’09 -- High
resin prices show no signs of abating for plastics
processors, and that has analysts who follow the
packaging industry predicting continued pressure
on those companies. About 64 percent of all Standard
& Poor’s rated packaging companies are in the highly
volatile categories.
Trade Analyst
|
Shoring up sales
in tough times
A Wisconsin firm boosts its profits by offering
top clients some tender loving care.
One expert encourages reps to devote more
time to developing relationships with their
best existing clients. Follow that advice
to the letter and you will be pleased with
the results.
Take time to ask questions on the phone
with clients, note that the company will
also occasionally absorb costs, even those
resulting from an outside mistake, in order
to maintain good will. That's gained more
business and even some referrals to new
customers.
"We've tried to build friendships, and that's
paid off,"
From Packaging Business News advice
site
|
Oil plunged below $50 a barrel on today, deepening
losses over the previous four sessions as battered
financial markets reflected ever lower confidence
in the world economy and evidence mounted of falling
fuel demand. U.S. crude fell $3.71, to $49.91 a
barrel , the weakest level since January 2007. Oil
has lost about two-thirds of its value since July's
record above $147.
News Wires November 2008
Feel the earth moving beneath your feet? Is the
room spinning? Do you turn the steering wheel left,
only to find you're going right? If you answered
yes to any of the above, you just might be in the
North American resin market.
Opinion Piece - U.S. Plastics Trade Journal
|
Pepsi on sustainability
Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. released a corporate
responsibility report this week, and plastics
play a pretty major role in the story. The
company highlights its efforts to make bottles
lighter, and also to bring bottle manufacturing
in-house. (Click
here to download the full report, in
PDF format). The report includes a story
quoting Walter Samylenko, director of packaging
engineering, about the company's efforts
to use less plastics through lightweighting.
Read - XP PreStretched Film
Read - HYBRiD80 Stretch Films
Trade News Report October 2008 |
Increasing meat demand drives packaging growth.
Demand for meat, poultry and seafood packaging is
projected to increase four per cent annually to
$6.9 billion in 2009. About half of the gains will
be attributable to an increase in meat, poultry
and seafood production, and half will be attributable
to changes in packaging practices, suggesting there
is growing scope for innovation in this sector.
Demand for flexible packaging is forecast to climb
4.7 percent per year to $3 billion in 2009.
Meat Process.com
|
