My colleague, Plastics News Asia Bureau Chief Steve Toloken, made some insightful observation at the Chinaplas show here in Guangzhou and wrote the following.

While this year's Chinaplas show is likely to top 85,000 attendees and has featured some notable announcements - such as Sabic and Sinopec building a US$1 billion joint venture polycarbonate plant - there's one notable absence from the usual hustle and bustle: a number of well-known Japanese injection press makers.

From conversations in the smaller Japanese pavilion at Chinaplas, it's not immediately clear why they're not here, but many of them seem to be skipping this year's show.

The absence is noteworthy. Chinaplas, which opened May 17 in Guangzhou, is China and Asia's largest plastics show, and China is an extremely important market to the Japanese: growth here was the biggest single reason Japan's injection press industry saw a substantial recovery of sales in 2010, to about 12,000 machines.

That's twice the level of its dismal 2009 during the worst of the economic crisis, and it put the industry back in the neighborhood of its historical sales levels, at least in terms of units, if not profits.

It's natural to wonder if not exhibiting reflects caution about Japan's economy as it copes with its tsunami and nuclear disasters.

One global petrochemical industry executive who manages operations in Japan offered another reason - it could reflect the spirit of self-sacrifice the Japanese people are exhibiting, as they do things like cancel vacations and cut back on spending as they try to pull together after the trauma they've been through.

Chinaplas organizer Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. suggested that less Japanese presence is mainly due to companies focusing on the IPF show. Many firms made their decisions before the earthquake, and a few withdrew after the quake.