I like to shop.  Frequently. Whether its grocery stores, clothing stores, shoe stores or department stores — I’m there!  And I am getting better and better at utilizing online stores.  I purchase things from all over the place. 

Our clothing and items like meat, fruits and vegetables have a label that provides us with an indication of where they were manufactured or grown. And shipping labels can provide some indication of where the product was shipped from. However, there is no similar detail regarding the packaging of our products.  For example, if you purchase a blanket packaged in a plastic pouch that is labeled ”Made in China” can you assume this applies to both the blanket and the package? 

As you might recall, ”country of origin“  became a big issue concerning toxins in toys and dog food a few years ago. Lately, its become a popular topic of conversation amongst people in the packaging world. Customers are regularly asking their suppliers to detail or even certify that certain toxic materials aren’t in their products… or their packaging! Particularly because one country’s environmental regulations may not be as stringent as others. 

 So, exactly where did the package that surrounds your product come from? Seems like a simple enough question, right?  Not exactly.  By the time consumers see a plastic package it has likely been through multiple hands, has something akin to a label and/or exterior printing on it and started out as a plastic resin somewhere in the world. Once you add a number of distributors and converters into the mix, calculating where exactly all of those pieces started can be a somewhat tricky and sticky process. 

Plastic resins are manufactured here in the United States, but that does not mean your plastic started out in Houston. It may have come from the Middle East or southwest Asia. Then it may get shipped here, but not necessarily.  Maybe that resin goes somewhere in Europe or South America and is turned into your primary package.  A label manufactured in Mexico or Canada might be affixed to the outside and printing done in ink from just about anywhere could be on that label. What you may get  in the end is a plastic package whose country of origin is unknown because its components came from multiple places. Putting a label on a package that details the country of origin may be a good idea, but then, will that be where the original resin was manufactured, or is that a detail of each little stop it makes along the way?

Being transparent and reducing our carbon footprint is a great idea. But sometimes in practice, at least for the time being, it is a little difficult.  Creating a chart of origin for components of a plastic package would require cooperation of the supply chain worldwide — and I don’t know that we’re quite that organized as a planet yet.

“By the way you look fantastic in your boots of Chinese plastic.”  As I walked into a vinyl record store recently, I was welcomed by the unmistakable voice of Chrissie Hynde, leader of the Pretenders (a punk/new wave/Top 40 band formed in the late ‘70s), singing these lyrics to a rousing rockabilly sound.  

Given my role with SPI, I immediately thought that the single, “Boots of Chinese Plastic” from the band’s 2008 album, must in some way pertain to the U.S.- China trade imbalance, the under valuation of the yuan, and the fact that China is the United States’ second-largest source of plastics industry imports.  After all, reports are that Hynde, a native of Akron, Ohio, has recently returned home after spending most of the last 30 years in London. Could the song be a mournful plea for plastics industry jobs lost overseas to return to Ohio (nationally ranked second in plastics industry employment and third in total plastics industry shipments)? Or maybe Hynde was somehow simply promoting the benefits of plastic boots as part of her well-known animal rights activism. Not likely. A closer look at the tune’s lyrics reveals that the song’s meaning is very much up for creative interpretation.

But perhaps more germane to this blog is the fact that this relatively new song, which references plastics in the chorus, was being played at the store from a vinyl record spinning on a turntable. Those readers born after 1984 can check out this Wikipedia page for a clue about the meaning of the preceding sentence… But wait, what’s this? Hold on a minute – on the contrary, the youngsters are apparently hip to what a vinyl record is after all! News stories here and there and everywhere are reporting that vinyl recordings, once thought to have been made obsolete by CDs and digital files, are making a comeback – particularly among teen and college-aged audiophiles seeking a less flattened listening experience. The artists, like the record buyers, value the richer more robust sounds that vinyl provides over digital formats and it is now possible to buy vinyl versions of many major new releases at retailers like Best Buy.  

Independent of DJs and hip-hop artists, demand for turntables and vinyl records are rising as CD sales figures are gradually falling. Why else would Amazon.com have a vinyl section on its site that sells new works by modern musicians?  While still only a very small fraction of all music sales, the number of vinyl records sold doubled from 988,000 in 2007 to 1.88 million in 2008. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the number of turntables sold has gone from 1.8 million in 1989 to only 275,000 in 2006 and then back up to nearly half a million in 2007.

Obviously, plastics role in the manufacture of records is huge, from the nitrous cellulose lacquer (rock on,  Alexander Parkes and John Wesley Hyatt!), plastic ribbing and plastic ring used in making a master disc, to the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pellets that go from hopper to extruder in making vinyl copies of the master. Check out how vinyl records are manufactured on this video (part one) and this one (part two).

You may not know this, but NPE2009 is one of only about 35 trade shows being held in the United States this year that was chosen to participate in the Department of Commerce’s International Buyer Program. This honor bestows a number of benefits:

• First, U.S. Commercial Specialists located in dozens of countries have been recruiting overseas buyers to attend NPE2009.
• Second, as noted earlier on the NPE blog, a number of those Commercial Specialists will be escorting their delegations to NPE2009 and will be available for one-on-one meetings with U.S. exhibitors to discuss current market situations, export issues relevant to your firm and export opportunities in their markets. Be sure to register for these Showtime appointments.
• Third, even if they are not able to attend NPE2009, Commercial Specialists in approximately 60 countries have worked to prepare market reports that will be included on a CD that the Department of Commerce will distribute to U.S. exhibitors at the show.

And the best bit is that all of these services are provided free of charge.  

If that was not enough, the International Trade Center, which is co-sponsored by SPI and the Commercial Services division of the Department of Commerce, will be hosting a number of events to promote plastics trade between the United States and the rest of the world:

Latin-America Networking Lunch
Location:  S102B-D
Date:   Tuesday, June 23
Time:  1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
 
This event is being held in conjunction with Seminarios Plástico and will feature a panel of U.S. Commercial Service Specialists from Latin-America who will provide a brief overview of market conditions and export opportunities in their respective countries.  Following this presentation, attendees will be able to mingle with U.S. exhibitors interested in exporting to this region and guests from Latin-American countries.

Like all of the events being hosted by the International Trade Center, there is no charge to participate in this luncheon. However, space in the ballroom is limited, so only those with tickets will be admitted. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the International Trade Center (ITC) located in Room S100C in the South Hall. So please stop by the ITC to pick up your ticket.

International Reception and Plastics Design Competition Awards Ceremony
Location:  West Ballroom
Date:   Wednesday, June 24
Time:  5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
   
SPI invites all exhibitors and international attendees to the International Reception (5:00 – 6:30 p.m.). The reception will be immediately followed by the International Plastics Design Competition Awards Ceremony (6:30 – 8:00 p.m.). Click on the link above to obtain additional information concerning these events.    

Asia Networking Reception
Location:  The International Trade Center (S100C)
Date:   Thursday, June 25
Time:  3:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Finally, the ITC invites all U.S. exhibitors and attendees from Asia to the Asia Networking reception. As SPI’s Senior Director, International Trade and Trade Counsel, I will begin the reception by providing a brief overview of market conditions in this region and export trends. In addition, U.S. Commercial Service Specialists from the region will be on hand to provide additional market insight and assistance. So come by the ITC to grab a drink and take advantage of this opportunity to meet with new and existing colleagues and business partners from Asia.

Outside of these events, the ITC will be staffed and equipped to assist you with your international trade questions and to promote business. Staff at the ITC will include representatives from SPI, U.S. Commercial Service Specialists and interpreters for several languages. International telephone service, computer stations, a fax machine, three meeting rooms that can be booked on a first-come, first-served basis and tea/coffee service and light snacks complete the package.

We look forward to welcoming you to the ITC!

I recently returned from Plastindia 2009 and the inaugural one-day plastics industry summit that we held in conjunction with the Plastindia Foundation and the Confederation of Indian Industry. Overall, the event went well and I believe offered the attendees useful information concerning the state of the industry in the two countries and some of the resources available to companies seeking to begin or expand exports to India. Perhaps more valuable, however, was the general sense of optimism from both the U.S. and Indian speakers concerning the opportunities presented by the Indian market.

And the numbers support the optimism:

• 5 kilograms (or 11 pounds) — The weight of plastics consumed by the average Indian consumer per annum. Conversely, the average consumer in the United States uses almost 110 kilograms (or 242 pounds) of plastics per annum. Demand in India is expected to double in the next three years alone.
• 7.3 percent — India’s GDP growth rate for 2008. Like the rest of the world, India, has certainly been affected by the global slow-down, but in India that means that GDP growth was simply down from the 9.0 percent increase seen in 2007.
• 30,000 – The number of additional machines that India will need over the next three years in order for it to meet the increased demand for plastics in India.
• 500,000 – The estimated number of mobile phones sold in India each day!
• 526,382,000 – The value of U.S. plastics exports to India in 2008, up more than 300 percent over the last four years.
• 1,147,995,904 – India’s estimated population as of July 2008, according to the entry for India in the CIA World Factbook.

When so many of the numbers that we hear on a daily basis are negative, I can tell you that it was refreshing to hear some numbers that we can all get optimistic about!