U.S. Plastics Industry Continues Steady Growth

During the just-concluded K 2007 exhibition, William R. Carteaux, President and CEO of the American Plastics Industry Association (SPI) pointed out that after years of globalization and outsourcing to low-cost countries, the US plastics industry is stronger than ever and sales are still growing. .

Features of the U.S. Plastics Industry

The third largest manufacturing industry in the United States: US plastics industry shipped US$379 billion (US$341 billion in 2005); there are 18,585 factories in the country, with 1.1 million employees; and US$11.3 billion in new large-scale equipment investment. The largest single-country market in the plastics industry: Appreciated consumption totaled approximately US$275 billion in 2006, an increase of 7.6% over 2005, more than twice the 1990 level. Of the total apparent consumption in 2006, more than 200 million U.S. dollars were plastic parts and finished goods, and the rest were resins, machinery, and molds.

SPI President and CEO William R. Carteaux introduced the development and prospects of the US plastics industry at a press conference held at K Show. The key factor in the world plastics trade: In 2006, the annual export volume of plastics in the United States increased by 12.3%. In the first seven months of 2007, it increased by 11.7% over the same period in 2006. Imports increased by 7.5% in 2006 and fell 2.3% in the first seven months of 2007. Canada and Mexico are the largest plastic trading partners in the United States, accounting for nearly half of the US export market. China is the third largest trading partner of the United States and the second largest importer of plastics in the United States, second only to Canada. In 2006, the total value of US plastics exports was 43.4 billion U.S. dollars, and the total export value was 37.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Making a positive contribution to the U.S. trade balance: In 2006, the trade surplus of the U.S. plastics industry was 5.8 billion U.S. dollars, which was much more than the 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2005. The surplus for the first seven months of 2007 has reached $5.9 billion, exceeding the full year of 2006.

Carteaux said: "The US plastics industry has fewer companies and fewer employees than it did in 2000. But at present, the competitiveness of nearly 19,000 plastics plants in the United States is the strongest in history, the technology is more advanced, the labor quality is higher, and more attention is paid to developing new ones. The international business is precisely because of this, the United States continues to increase the shipment of plastic products to domestic and foreign markets, and the plastics industry maintains a huge trade surplus."

U.S. Increases Imports of China Plastic Products

Since 2000, the balance of the plastics trade in the United States has remained stable, and the trade in resins, molds and machinery has increased significantly. The only thing that fell sharply was plastic parts and finished goods. In response, Carteaux called it "the Chinese factor" because of the rapid increase in plastic products imported from China.

In recent years, the United States has seen a rapid increase in imports of plastic products from China. The plastic products imported from China are mainly low value-added products such as plastic toys and durable plastic consumer goods. The quantity is large but the price is low. At the same time, some plastics processing companies in the United States have accused these low-priced plastic products of impacting sales of their products in the United States, and have repeatedly applied to the US government for anti-dumping investigations. High value-added products, such as medical plastics and plastic electrical accessories, are imported from Europe.

Carteaux is delighted with the status quo in the US plastics industry. He said: "The potential market for China and India is very large, but the United States actually consumes a huge amount of plastic-related products and is currently the world's largest single national plastics market.

With the continuous increase in imports of resins, machinery, moulds and processed products, especially the rapid increase in imports of plastic parts and finished products from China, the US plastics industry still maintains a trade surplus. It can be seen that the competitiveness of the US plastics industry is still very strong. ”