International Plastics News for Asia

The best way to start a new year is to announcea much-awaited industry event. This issuecarries a Special Supplement on what to expect inthe upcoming Taipei Plas 2010, Taiwan抯 biggestexhibition for the plastics & rubber industry. WithTaiwan now among the world抯 five largest producersof plastics & rubber machinery, the show has beenone of the top destinations of industry professionals. This year also marks the beginning of theASEAN Free Trade Area and ASEAN-ChinaFree Trade Area.We will be seeing intensifiedintra-regional competition. On the bright side,the lowering of tariffs for production inputs islikely to translate into lower costs which wouldbenefit manufacturers. Robots are now performing heavy duty andcomplicated tasks. The trend is towards compact,flexible and highly efficient robots performingvarious functions in the production process. The use of bioplastic compounds has been onthe rise as producers look for new alternatives tolessen dependence on non-renewable resources.Starting this issue, we will focus on the use ofbioplastics and recycling as emerging trends in theplastics industry.