Dominance in plastics market

EASY AVAILABILITY of labour, productivity, government policies and excellent infrastructure facilities have made Chinese plastic processors dominate the global market.

According to Mr. Ashok Goel, Vice President, Organisation of Plastics Processors of India (OPP), ``Chinese manufacturers are streets ahead of Indian plastic processors and higher productivity is rooted in Chinese labour laws which are flexible and make their products globally competitive.''

Mr. Goel, who led a 11 member delegation to China recently, says the centralised employment exchanges in China assure a constant supply of all classes of labour, which can be retained even for short duration and terminated with minimal formalities and reasonable compensation. Also, the industry has negligible interference from the Government. Again, the Chinese have made massive investments in infrastructure and the wellspread network of super highways facilitate faster movement of raw materials and finished products. The immediate challenge faced by the Indian plastics industry is to improve productivity levels and strengthen overseas marketing, according to Mr. V. K. Taparia, President, OPP. As a step in this direction the organisation is planning to hold ``Plastics Products Exposition 2001'' (PPE 2001) in February next year in Mumbai.

This has been conceived as an exclusive showcase of Indian plastics processing capability on the lines of the Canton Trade Exposition, a six monthly international marketing event held by the Chinese industry.

Apart from SAARC countries, OPP is aggressively promoting PPE 2001 in high consumption markets of Europe, Africa, Middle East, Far East Asia and Australia.

Mr. Taparia is confident of generating enquiries / orders worth over $55 million during the exposition. He said OPP has also appraised the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers of the factors responsible for slack growth and exports and made an appeal for elimination of the hurdles faced by the Indian industry.

China exported (direct and indirect) plastic products worth $ 8 billion last year whereas the Rs. 20,000 crore ($4.4 billion) Indian plastic processing industry could export goods worth $520 million only. The innumerable statutory requirements of the Central and State governments make it difficult for the Indian industry to achieve the growth rate according to Mr. Taparia. The current capacity of the industry is 4.5 million tonnes per annum and OPP aims to expand the capacity to 10 million tonnes in a decade.

Corporate Bureau

Chennai

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Threat perception over imports from China
Next     : India in the global context