Source of picture: Dachangplastic.com
By John Richardson
WHAT a difference ten years have made in the plastics processing industry, according to a Southeast Asian converter who sees China’s machinery=manufacturing prowess as an opportunity and threat.
“Ten years ago I considered buying a process machine from the US for $300,000 but it was just too expensive,” said the processor.
“I recently purchased two machines from China – which are of better quality than the one I could have bought ten years ago -for only $100,000. This is great news for me.
“But I think the ease of availability of capital combined with the big improvements in China’s capability to build processing machines for certain plastics processing sectors is contributing to the strong demand growth.
“It has been easy, particularly over the last year, to add processing capacity on the assumption that strong continued government stimulus will mean a sufficiently strong market.”
So if the government withdraws stimulus in the wrong kind of ways as it tries to cool the economy down, the processing sector could be one more industry in China increasing its exports of surpluses. We are already seeing this in finished baxially oriented (BOPP) film.