Modern Plastics Worldwide - March 2010 - dae uptlax

WORLD TOUR
ASIA-PACIFIC
Business, Strategies & Markets
Chinaplas preview: The way
forward for the world’s second-largest
economy
By Stephen Moore
The timing of China’s jump in the global
GDP rankings, as well as Chinaplas,
is particularly auspicious given
the Mainland’s latest showpiece—Expo
2010 Shanghai—will kick off about one
week after Chinaplas concludes. Most
indications are that it will be another
landmark year for the economic titan in
the global arena.
Observers don’t expect China’s surge
forward to cease any time soon. Already
the largest auto market in the world and
the leading manufacturer in a multitude
of market segments that extensively
employ plastics, from air-conditioners
through to Yuletide decorations, China
could overtake the United States to
become the world’s largest economy as
early as 2020, according to consultancy
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
China is part of a larger economic
grouping dubbed the E-7, or the
Emerging Seven group of developing
economies—China, India, Brazil, Russia,
Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey—that
is forecast to match the economic output
of the developed G7 nations—the
The skinny on
Chinaplas
Where: Shanghai New International
Expo Centre, Pudong, China
When: April 19-22, 2010
Total exhibition area: 145,000m 2
(est.)
No. of exhibitors: ~1900
No. of visitors: 75,000 (est.)
As Chinaplas opens in Shanghai this April, China will more than likely be
celebrating its impending emergence as the world’s second-largest economy
after the United States, expecting to have edged slightly ahead of Japan when
the fi nal 2009 GDP numbers come in.
The latest edition of Chinaplas will be bigger than ever, hosting
around 1900 exhibitors in all, according to organizer Adsale.
U.S., Japan, Germany, France, UK, Italy,
and Canada—by 2019 and be about
30% larger by 2030. Indeed, the next
20 years is set to experience a global
transformation that will redefine trade,
manufacturing, and consumer demand,
with major implications for the plastics
processing sector.
So what will China’s role be going
forward and can we expect any changes
to the rules of business? The Mainland’s
socialist market economy policies will
continue to promote economic growth
and privatization within the realm of
Communist rule, with its leaders facing a
challenging balancing act of keeping the
populace content and income disparities
in check, while maintaining the status
quo of power and control.
Green tech boom
China appears to have recognized that
one key to stable long-term growth is
looking after its environment and the
health of its citizens, and efforts are
being made to ensure this. Universal
access to essential healthcare for all in
China has been targeted by 2020, for
example (November 2009 MPW, p. 44).
And while some Chinese manufacturers
have created some Great Wall-sized PR
nightmares in recent years (recall the
use of outlawed additives in plastic toys
or poison in dog food), the government
continues to drive progress forward in
other areas directly impacting the health
of its citizens. Take the recent regulations
governing “Hygienic Standard for Uses
of Additives in Food Containers and
Packaging Materials,” for example, that
prescribe a positive list of additives that
can be used in packaging and their upper
limits, primarily based on similar legislation
in the United States, the European
42 MARCH 2010 • MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE plasticstoday.com/mpw