Page 9 - Plastics News March 2017

FROM THE EDITOR'S PEN

Indian Honors

his month seems to have been really good atleast for Plastics Industry; as across the
Tspectrum the Government is full of praises for the Plastics. At the recent conference Suresh
Prabhu, Minister for Railways, said that as part of an effort to grow while preserving the fragile
environment, the Plastic industry should try and make sustainable plastics for developing
infrastructure. Moreoever, he underlined the need for developing sustainable infrastructure
and creating one, as despite having a good growth potential, the plastic processing industry
faces many challenges in terms of environmental myths, lack of advanced technology, limited
infrastructure and high volatility in feedstock prices. Well this has come at good time.
Even at the recent PVI 2017 trade show the Government has said that it is with the Plastics
Industry. As economic growth gathers momentum, the application of plastics is expected to
increase manifold in future and no one can deny that.

Also considering the amount of new PE capacities coming up in the country it is very likely
that India may turn in to net PE exporte around mid year.
AjAY DESAI
With the OPAL’s new capacity inaugrated this month (and Reliance Industries) there are
expectations and round of anticipations as well.There are certain sections who believe that
India might look forward to various market including China and Africa as well along with the
markets in Southeast Asia. According to various statistics the recorded total PE imports are
around 1.88m tonnes in the fiscal year ending March 2016.

However, considering the new capacities being added in the coming year it is expected that
the expected increase in country’s overall PE capacity would be perhaps higher than the total
imports and this could be a game changer.

Some experts estimates that with the new capacities we would be able to have well over
around 2m tonnes of PE, but this remain to be seen, and if we are able to tap the export
market then there’s nothing like it.

Gold at the FPA
The Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) had recently announced the winners of its 61st Annual
Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition and I am happy to learn that one of our
Indian friends (Uflex) have bagged 2 Golds and 2 Silver award for its Waterless Internet Flower
Packaging at the Awards ceremony held in Florida.
Waterless Internet Flower Packaging works on the principle of Active Modified Atmospheric
Packaging (AMAP) through FlexfreshTM - a special patented polymeric film offering shelf-
life extension solution for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. This year, 75 packages were
submitted in the competition, for a total of 152 entries (some packages were entered into
multiple categories). Nineteen packages were honored with 30 Achievement Awards in various
categories. Hope we have more such awards.
Hon.Editor

Ajay Desai

9 March 2017 | Plastics News