Page 7 - Plastics News December2018

THE PRESIDENT
THE PRESIDENT SAYS SAYS

The Convergence in November

his year, November has witnessed many changes; in the raw material prices especially in
TPE and PP segments due to International raw material prices, US Dollar to INR conversion
rates and other factors.
Despite of Price protection, this erratic price behaviour of raw materials will make the manufacturer to
suffer a lot. The Swift change in Oil prices and changes in Forex price also jeopardised the decisions of
Plastics manufacturers; in terms of raw material procurement and material planning, as this industry is
very competitive and cost sensitive. In many cases, a rupee change in raw material price is not bearable
to the manufacturer. The external factors in raw material pricing are becoming major problems for the
plastics processing industry and the principal raw material producing companies must come forward to
help the processing industries.
Incidentally it was in November that the “Make in Odisha Conclave” was held at Bhubaneshwar and I
happened to be a Panellist for Panel discussion on “Business Opportunities in Polypropylene”. Odisha is
rich in Mineral resources and many major companies are engaged in mineral exploration and processing JAYADEV MEELA
in Odisha. Indian Oil Corporation is setting up Polypropylene plant with a capacity of 7,00,000 MT per
annum, which is going to be fully operational from March 2019. East India is growing market for Plastics
particularly with Odisha that has two very good ports Dhamra and Paradip.
The Odisha Government has set up a Plastic Park in Paradip to promote Plastic industry in the state with
good infrastructure facilities and incentives. With growing urbanization and living standards, Odisha
Plastics consumption is growing rapidly. The port access and IOCL PP project will give a very good business
opportunity for export of Plastics finished products, I personally foresee a very good demand for Plastic
furniture, packaging, Medical equipment in domestic market and Export market.
AIPMA had organized a two-day event in November called ‘Plast-Talk’ a conference on “Smart Processing:
Value Creation through Atomization& Digitalization” in Mumbai. The Chief Guest Mr. Tang Guocai, Consul
General of People’s Republic of China, Mumbai has emphasized on Indo China Trade relations and Culture.
He quoted that bilateral Indo China Trade up to September 2018 has crossed 72 Billion US dollar and
Indian Exports are also increased significantly.
Ms. Aparna Sharma, Joint Secretary, Department of Chemcials and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals
& Fertilizers, Government of India has acknowledged the contribution of Plastics Industry to the Indian
Economy with their 40,000 plus industrial units. She emphasized on Zero Defect and Zero Effect initiatives
and adoption of newer technologies and systems for efficient production and cost control.

Mr. Radhakrishnan Pillai, Deputy Director, Chanakya International Institute of Leadership Studies,
University of Mumbai, in his Special Guest note shared his views on 7 pillars of Business Leadership and
other Business standards.
The ‘Plast-Talk’ was a good conference for the new and latest developments in Plastics manufacturing
sector for automization, digitization, material handling systems, Artificial Intelligence, Production
systemization, cloud computing and so on. Industrial Stalwarts were present in the meeting and presented
their papers and case studies for the benefit of the Plastics Industry.

Wish Merry Christmas and A Happy New year to all our readers!

Jayadev Meela

president@aipma.net

7 December 2018 Plastics News