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I had a very unlucky time trying to identify the original source of the Chinese news story about plastic food packaging I referenced in my July 9 blog item.
Let me admit I first saw it on a Chinese plastics web site that has been taking copyrighted Plastics News China stories without our permission and disregarding our complaint for the past two years. More of that you can see in PN editor Bob Graces column China brings flattery we can do without.
So I knew this web site, with minimal editorial staff that sells soft advertising, must have stolen the story from somewhere. I picked a few key words and search online. Guess what? I found hundreds of web pages with pretty much the same story and the same headline.
These web sites include all kinds of portal sites, B2B sites, media web sites, trade group sites, government sites, personal Web pages, etc. Many of them inserted a fine print tagline identifying the source, and more of them dont give any information whatsoever about who wrote the story and which publication it was original published in.
The next challenge came with the wide array of attributed sources for this same story. Apparently, by not citing the source of a stolen story, you enter the lottery where someone may cite you as the source when they copy and paste the story from your web site.
With a tad frustration, I checked the web sites of Chinas largest wire service Xinhua News Agency and Chinas largest daily newspaper the Peoples Daily, which I deemed Chinas Associated Press and the Washington Post when I was a journalism student in Beijing.
Xinhua attributed the story to two sources separate with an ambiguous slash: the Information Times/the China Economic Net. Whats that supposed to mean?
I went to the reputable China Economic Net web site, and the credit was given to the Information Times. People's Daily also attributed to the Information Times but also conscientiously cited the authors names. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I thought.
But I failed to find this article on the Information Times web site. I even checked eachand every page of the PDF-formatted online version of its 118-page June 19 issue, according to the dateline in the Web version of the story, and came up with nothing.
That's three hours well spent......in my good will of finding the first-hand source.
Our own stories are appearing on the Web with other publication titles and even some unknown authors name. Ironically, when we stick to professional ethics and try to give the credit to the original source, it almost turns to be mission impossible.
Alright, lesson 101 of online publishing in China.
Taiwan's Economics Daily News recently reported a large-scale project of PET beer bottles in the mainland.Publicly-held Taiwanese conglomerate Far East Group is adding plastic bottles to its diverse portfolio. It announced that its first PET beer bottle factory will start production in Suzhou in the second quarter of 2008. The investor, Far East Textile Ltd. (FETL), expected an initial annual capacity of 560 million bottles and 2 billion yuan of sales.The paper cited the company's official:FETL is aiming to take the market opportunities offered by the BeijingOlympics. The company also is interested in partnering with mainland local or international soft drinks makers. Being the largest supplier of PET resin in China, FETL has made technical progress on PET beer bottles, which are more technically challenging than PET bottles used for water and soft drinks.
FETL will be competing with Chinas largest PET bottle maker Zhuhai Zhongfu Enterprise Co. Ltd., the only Chinese firm spearheading in the PET beer bottle market. Its major revenue stream still comes from the soft drinks sector, and it claims to supply over half of the plastic bottles used by the Chinaoperations of Coco Cola and Pepsis. But the public company said PET beer bottle is the major goal in the next few years, reported by Chinas's Security Daily. Zhongfu currently has an annual capacity of 5 billion PET bottles.Chinas domestic beer consumption tops 20 million metric tons annually, translating to 30 billion packaging bottles.
The enthusiasm on bio-resin and its applications seems to be negatively associated with the oil price. In the wave of recent price hikes of petrochemical raw materials, Taiwan's Kuan Kun Paper Industry Inc. announced success on the commercialization of PLA-coated paper products, named Eco Green Paper.According to the Economics Daily News,Kuan Kuns success came after two years research and development with partner NatureWorks LLC. Kuan Kun has received patent on the products. PLA replacing PE or PET to be coated on paper dishware will help Taiwanese makers to significantly increase exports.
The company also plans to initiate an Allianceof Bio-degradable paper Products.
Globalization draws circles. Here is an ironic one: cheap jewelry with high levels of toxic lead from China is being recalled in the United States, but the source of the raw material is electronic waste dumped by Western countries to China.The recalled jewelry includes necklace and earring sets with plastic "birthstones" sold by Sears Holdings Corp.'s Kmart stores.The Wall Street Journal's July 12 story Lead toxins take a global round trip said:For lead, the trip to China from the U.S. typically goes something like this: U.S. consumers and businesses send their old electronics to recycling firms -- often by way of innocuous recycling drives. Some of those firms then sell the electronics to dealers in the U.S., who sell them to dealers in China. Chinese companies buy the e-waste and strip lead and other re-sellable materials from it -- often discarding harmful materials along the way, adding to local pollution. Those firms then sell the recovered lead to alloy makers like Ms. Liu, who provide it to Chinese manufacturers. The lead makes its way -- sometimes at toxic levels -- into trinkets sold to consumers in the U.S.
It also made a point that the stingy Western buyers need to take the blame, at least partially:In Yiwu [animportant hub for low-priced Chinese exports], jewelry sellers make no secret of using toxic lead alloy in their products. They insist buyers know what they're getting and say using lead is the only way to offer the low prices that foreign purchasers are willing to pay.
Admit it or not, the same thing happens in the global flow of plastics. American brokers ship large amount of plastic scrap to China, where underemployed villagers manually sort, clean and reprocess into resin. These recycled materials go into apparel, consumer products and electronics that are shipped back to the States.How do you like wearing a fleece thats made, in essence, from coke bottles you throw into the trash can?The Chinese dont practice magic solutions that really turn waste into treasure, as the popular Chinese saying in the recycling industry goes. Besides health hazards to the workers, pollution and deterioration of living environment, consumers in developed nations also fall victim. Isn't it a lose-lose situation?
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Some manufacturers say they are moving away from lead alloy at the request of customers, especially those from the U.S. and Western Europe. Nearly all say that, if a buyer wants them to, factories can lower the lead content of their products. "People can choose. We give them whatever they want," says Ni Lanzhen, a wholesaler of jewelry and trinkets, including a tiny ring topped with a lead flower. "But most of the market is lead alloy."
The first thing I do every morning in the newsroom is to clear unsolicited email of all types of subjects from across the world.Many of them are Internet marketing materials from Chinese manufacturers, in particular, mold makers.It doesnt surprise me that mold makers, in many cases also offering custom molding services, take the lead in aggressive Internet campaigns targeting overseas markets. I get the same impression from attending international plastic trade shows as well as discussions with industry sources.Everything changes so fast in China, and so are these promotional email messages. Ive noticed major improvement of their content and format over the past two years.First and foremost is the languageissue. For apparent reasons, these messages are always written in English. I remember some hilarious ones with incorrect use of words and strange syntax. I suspect they were translated by software rather than people with acceptable English proficiency. But, lately, I was pretty impressed with the almost perfect English in some of these unsolicited email.Mr. Zhang, an owner of a mold shop in Shenzhen, told me everyone is studying English in China. My English has improved a lot last year. I realized how important it is, you know, I dont want to rely on my assistant for communication with western buyers. I take every chance to talk to native English speakers.He made an interesting comment on the high turnover of his marketing staff. I always get new hires better than their predecessors. Theres no shortage of talent for such positions in the market, he said.Back to the topic, the format of these email messages has evolved from plain text to embedded company logo and URL, to product photos, and to PowerPoint attachment. The information covers company profile, product display, detailed technical specs, photos featuring working scenes of every step of the production, as well as FAQ. The vivid images add much credibility to the company, versus a fishy plain text messageby fishy I meant its hard to tell whether the sender has its own production facility or is just a sales agent.Theyve also made subject lines and sender information more straightforward and user-friendly. For example, they now put the company name and location in the subject line instead of just saying quality molds from China or a new opportunity.According to the Chinese Customs, China exported over $1 billion worth of plastic molds in 2006.
My friend Iris Hu in New York spent a sleepless summer night in the parking lot of a Whole Foods store in a scramble for a $15 cotton grocery bag.The bags, introduced by London designer Anya Hindmarch, read Im not a plastic bag andare intended to be used and reused for groceries, in place of plastic.The New York Times reported:A stampede of would-be purchasers in Taiwan in June sent 30 people to the hospital and required the riot police. A similar outpouring in Hong Kong caused no injuries, but the police closed down the shopping mall.
And according to Chinese newspaper Beijing Youth, an offering in Beijing was canceled for concern with riots.The irony is the bag has become more of a fashion than a campaign for a cleaner environment. Bids for the bags on Chinese websites have topped $200. And I wouldnt be surprised to see fashion snobs with this canvas bag on the shoulder still holding a plastic bag for Chinese or Thai takeout, or for other day-to-day shopping chores. Im not joking. Just check out the photos below, courtesy of my friend Iris: due to the rain in New York are, her Im Not a Plastics Bag came wrapped in a Whole Foods plastic bag in order to stay dry!
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Photos courtesy of Iris Hu.
Strong performance released July 17 by Chen Hsong Holdings Ltd. injected momentum of the press giants stock price on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (0057.HK).
The company said fiscal year 2006, which ended March 31, 2007, saw sales up 10 percent and profits up 15 percent. According to the ET Net, who claims to the largest financial news provider, Chen Hsong cited oil pricing a major factor for its sales. Sales only grew 8 percent in the first half due to high oil prices but went up 14 percent in the second half as oil prices dropped, the company said.Chen Hsong stock hit a 52-week high on July 18, the following trading day. The upbeat trend in 2007 is also found on the stocks of Haitian International Holdings Ltd. and Cosmo Machinery Enterprises Ltd., the other two largest press makers in China.In the following chart compiled with Yahoo Finance, the blue line is Chen Hsong, green Haitian and red Cosmo. For a better view of the chart, click to open a larger version in a new window.
The French plastic processors association, Federation de la Plasturgie, is launching a mobile workshop called Tour de France 2007 de la Plasturgie et des Composites to educate about plastics and promote plastic jobs. Details can be found on this page. According to rough translation powered by Babelfish, the campaign is from July 5 to August 14, covering 18 towns and cities across France. The tour trailer houses an injection molding machine, which is used to demonstrate the molding process.The federation says in the event brochure that the French plastic industry with an annual turnover of 29 billion euros is ranked the second largest in Europe. The industry consists of about 4,000 companies that employ 155,000.The federation does a good job covering the event on its blog site. You can find a large collection of interesting photos with captions, as well as audio and video clips.
Higher-end plastic food containers are able to keep fruits and vegetables fresher and longer than the cheap ones, but not as much as some of the brands claim, according to a story in Cincinnati's The Enquirer.Its not a scientific test though, as the story headline suggests. The reporter essentially did an informer test on her own, comparing brands including GladWare disposable, Rubbermaid, FresherLonger Miracle and Fresh Vac Im not sure who are the manufacturers for the latter two. The test results are:Least effective was a disposable GladWare container After about three days in the refrigerator, raspberries were showing some mold. I was surprised how long the broccoli lasted, but by about day six, it smelled bad. On the plus size, these are cheap, and it's no big deal if you leave them at a potluck or throw them out. Set of five entrée-sized containers, $3.29.Premier containers from Rubbermaid nest together and have lids that snap to the bottom, so you can keep track of them. Both raspberries and broccoli lasted about a day longer in these than in the disposable containers. $2.49-$8.99 for container sizes 1¼ cups to 14 cups.Fresher Longer Miracle Food Storage containers, sold at Sharper Image and Sur La Table, are air-tight with a rubber gasket and snap-down lid. They're made with plastic that contains antimicrobial silver nanoparticles. However, they are no longer allowed, by a quirk of government regulation, to mention the silver on the packaging. Raspberries didn't have much mold until about a week into the experiment, and broccoli still smelled OK after nine days. Set of 12, $49.95.Fresh Vac containers have rubber gaskets and close with a lock-down handle on the side. You push on the top of a filled container a few times, forcing the air out through a vacuum valve. There's a satisfying whoosh when you open the valve to break the vacuum, which may be the simple reason I liked these best. In my experiment, the raspberries had a little bit of mold after 10 days. They're available at Sur La Table. Set of three, $39.95.
The reporter also included in her test a vacuum-packing system called Food Saver, which worked very effectively: "I ran out of time before the broccoli went bad, and the raspberries took almost two weeks to grow significant fuzz." But the product's selling point is the vacuum mechanism powered by a separate electric pump (another $200) rather than just the plastic materials. I dont think it directly competes with conventional plastic containers. Also, to my surprise, the test skipped well-known and innovative brands like Tupperware.But the take-away message I get from this story is more on the business model side: is it really that traditional plastic products can only be low-margin commodities without much added-value? What can we do to leverage other materials and technologies to increase higher-end use of plastics?
The plastics packaging industry seems to be making progress in developing more commercially-successful applications for the beer industry.The other day I blogged about China's expanding capacity of PET beer bottles. Today I heard an Aussie company Alternative Plastics is molding beer kegs out of polypropylene.The company says on its web site:Heineken beer systems recognized the potential of the small beer keg market and with help of our global supplier Quadrant developed a new tapping system.The advantage to the consumer is that the beer stays fresh for 30 days after it has been initially tapped. This conservation period is currently unique for a beer tapping system operating independently.
It didn't say how many of these kegs the company is supplying Heineken right now.After some research online, a story on PRW.com said the world's first barrier PET beer keg actually came out last year:Carlsberg has launched the worlds first barrier PET keg for beer, its patented DraughtMaster system. The sealed system allows no oxygen to enter the keg, which can keep the beer fresh for up to 21 days from first serve, said Carlsberg. When beer is poured, the keg is compressed, leaving no room for surplus oxygen. The brewery said that smaller bars and restaurants usually stock bottled beer because of longer shelf life. Carlsberg chief executive Nils Andersen said: We want to make cold and fresh draught beer accessible to any size of outlet from bars and restaurants to hotels.A home version of DraughtMaster will also be launched.
Yet, another article suggests plastic beer keg was invented much earlier. The article was published in 1988 and it says Golden, Colo.-based Coors introduced a plastic Party Ball -- an amber-tinted, transluscent, spherical alternative to the heavy metal keg consumers pick up and return, usually at a beverage distribution center. I didn't see what type of plastic was used for the party ball.Looks like the new PP keg can keep beer fresh for 9 days longer than Carlberg's PET version. The components of the new tapping system are also made of plastics.
Photos coutersy of Alternative Plastics Web site
India's largest private enterprise and a major commodity resin producer Reliance Industries Ltd. has lined up $10 billion to invest in Egypt, the company's largest overseas investment so far. The package will include $1billion for an oil refinery and $7 billion for petrochemicals, according to India's English newspaper The Economic Times:Reliance Industries proposes to take advantage of the heavy crude available in North Africa to process a range of oil products such as gasoline. Heavy crude is usually difficult to process and requires a highly complex refinery. But it is cheaper than normal or sweet crude by about $5-5.5 per barrel. Reliance Industries uses a lot of heavy crude in its Jamnagar refinery.
Another newspaper, The Times of India, analyzed Reliance's overseas investment deployment and strategies, highlighting the target on the European and U.S. markets:
The Egyptian government estimates Indian investments in Egypt are worth $320 million. Reliance Petroleum Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance group, has been importing and marketing Egyptian crude oil since 2001. Over the last few years Reliance is trying to expand its global footprint in the oil and gas business. It already has hydrocarbon assets in Oman, Yemen and East Timor. While it has oil assets in Yemen, in east Timor and Oman the company is dealing in gas. Egypt too is becoming a big source of gas and this could have prompted Reliance to explore the option. Besides, it is strategically located with Europe and the entire African continent being a large potential market. Reliance had earlier made investment announcements in Saudi Arabia and Yemen along with other Indian oil majors but the plans did not fructify. At home it is dealing with uncertainty on pricing for its gas finds in K-G basin and has had to alter its petroleum retailing plans due to large under-recoveries. But the problems at home have not deterred it from trying to also find a way into the American continent. Company executives have talked of their intent to buy old refineries in the United States as well to get a toehold.China is a significant export market for Reliance, accounting for about 65 percent of Reliance's business in polypropylene exports.
Reliance doesn't have production facilities in China right now.
The Chinese government, on the one hand, is pruning value-added-tax (VAT) refund for low-value, labor-intensive plastic exports; on the other hand, it is offering tax incentives for plastic irrigation equipment, in order to encourage the production and use of water-saving drip irrigation.
According to the modified resin subcommittee of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association (CPPIA), China is waiving the 17 percent VAT for manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of drip irrigation pipes and tubing, starting July 1st.The subcommittee said in a news story on its web site, the number of manufacturers of plastic water-saving equipment in China has soared from six in 1998 to more than 110 this year, annual capacity from 30,000 metric tons in 1998 to 1 million tons.However, only a handful of firms are capable of making high quality microsphere drip systems, with combined annual capacity of less than 30,000 tons. "That's far below the market demand," the story said.